Now's the time to be street-smart and safe

MANILA, Philippines - Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP), in cooperation with the Automobile Association of the Philippines (AAP) and the National Center for Transportation Studies (NCTS) of the University of the Philippines, has been holding conferences on road safety since 2005, attended by private and public agencies with a view towards formulating resolutions leading to road safety projects.

The recent conference at the GT-Toyota Asian Center Auditorium at the University of the Philippines Diliman was themed “Gearing up for a Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020,” and couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time – what with automotive issues on traffic, fuel supply, and accidents becoming commonplace. The latter, of course, is most pressing as it involves the loss of human life.

In his opening remarks, TMP president Michinobu Sugata admonished, “Let us not just look at accidents and injuries as numbers, but more importantly, lives that we can save because we have made the roads safer for everyone.”

Automobile Association of the Philippines president Augusto Lagman pointed out to the assembly that the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) – the Philippine chapter of which he chairs – aims to save five million lives in a “decade for action”. By way of comparison, the New Zealand population stands at only four million. That should illustrate the gravity and urgency of the issue of road safety. On its website, the GRSP says it “brings together governments and governmental agencies, the private sector and civil society organizations to address road safety issues in low- and middle-income countries. GRSP is a hosted program of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), based in Geneva… it is widely acknowledged that many sectors have a role to play in road safety, especially in the prevention of crashes, deaths and injuries. GRSP brings together these sectors at the global, national and, sometimes, local government level. GRSP provides advice on good practice and facilitates projects in a growing number of countries.”

Meanwhile, in an exclusive interview with The STAR, Dr. Jose Regin Regidor of the NCTS said that, according to studies, two Filipinos every hour die in road accidents. “However, because of gaps in data collection, the real figure may be more than four times that,” he warned. Regidor asserted that it is what the NCTS is working on now – a consolidated, all-inclusive list that culls data from the police, the Department of Health, and even the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority. Accurate baseline data can provide an important foundation for more responsive and relevant legislation and guidelines.

Representing Congressman Irwin Tieng of the Buhay partylist, Atty. Pia Santiano outlined the three pertinent bills on road safety. First is the Anti Texting While Driving Bill. This bill, awaiting deliberation in the Lower House, penalizes erring motors with suspension of their driver’s license and a fine of up to P20,000. Second is the Anti Drunk Driving Bill, which sets a quantitative limit for blood alcohol at 0.06 percent. Fines range from P1,000 to P1 million plus life imprisonment if the intoxicated driver causes death because of an accident. Finally, the Anti Reckless Driving Bill penalizes careless drivers executing dangerous driving maneuvers with jail time from one to 12 months, plus fines of P1,000 to P100,000. It has gone through the House on first reading, and is with the committee for deliberation.

For his part, Department of Transportation and Communication Assistant Secretary Dante Lantin maintained that Aquino administration is “committed to promote road safety”, with the DOTC designated as lead agency. “We want to reduce casualties, in cooperation with public and private entities. We are also fully supportive of the Road Safety Bill,” he said. The commitment is to reduce fatalities by half come 2020. Lantin also said the agency has identified the three main reasons for road accidents: driver error, vehicle breakdown, and adverse road conditions.

Engineer Bert Suansing of the Safety Organization of the Philippines, on the other hand, questioned the need for a Road Safety Bill as there is already Republic Act 4136 or the Land Transportation and Traffic Code. He asserted that all it needs is teeth and enforcement. It’s certainly comprehensive enough, as the Code even outlines how to overtake (Article 11, Section 39), and also provides penalties for driving under influence of liquor or narcotics (Article 5, Section 53). What we need, said Suansing, is concrete proof of intoxication, something that the aforementioned Anti Drunk Driving Bill outlines. We at The STAR previously reported that the MMDA has already procured a number of “breathalyzer” units, and is merely awaiting a go-signal for implementation.

In his presentation, Suansing drove home the point that many drivers have woefully proven their ignorance of even simple traffic signs – evidenced by violations that can be avoided with the comprehension of street signs.

Dexter Cardenas of the Quezon City Department of Public Order and Safety echoed the sentiment, and stressed a need to intelligently review the road signs we have. “We have to standardize them,” he said. “Are they located correctly and in plain view?” Cardenas lamented that street signs are often obfuscated with the names of politicos or even private companies. Indeed, these markings are sometimes even more legible than the road signs they purport to sponsor. As a signatory to the Vienna Convention which standardizes road signs, we should comply and apply.

Another issue brought up is the proliferation of stick-on advertisements that totally obstruct the rearview window of most public utility buses. These are not only distracting but totally unsafe for obvious reasons. If markings on these public utility vehicles have no “traffic redeeming value,” then they have no business being there, asserted Johnny Angeles of AAP.

But perhaps most disturbing of all, at least 2,000 Filipino children under the age of 14 die a year in automobile accidents – 70 to 90 percent of them as pedestrians. Another 416 kids are injured daily. Road accidents occurring to children five to nine years old are caused mainly by unsupervised walks to and from school, or some other destination.

There’s a lot of accountability all around, it seems. Indeed, no less than a concerted effort is needed to curb the needless deaths, suffering, and anguish caused by people behind the wheel, on the road, on the sidewalk, or simply in their armchair at home – too greedy (or even too ignorant) to care.

“It’s time to take positive action so that those who have perished didn’t die in vain,” concluded Bert Suansing. Truly, the time for talk must be supplemented by a time for action.