Road safety curriculum eyed

CEBU, Philippines - Schools and transportation officials in Cebu are supporting the proposed measure to include in the curriculum of the Department of Education the road and traffic safety education.

At least two congressmen have filed a bill in the House of Representatives pushing to require all private and public elementary and secondary schools to teach road courtesy, discipline and traffic safety.

House Bill 6098 or the proposed Road Courtesy, Discipline and Traffic Safety Education Act is co-sponsored by Reps. Rufus Rodriguez (2nd District, Cagayan de Oro City) and Maximo Rodriguez, Jr. of Party-list Abante Mindanao.

Land Transportation Office-7 director Raul Aguilos welcomed the proposal acknowledging the need to include road safety program in both levels in order to create awareness among school children.

Aguilos said that road safety advocacy must be started among school children and should continue when they grow older.

“We need to create a culture of road safety among all of us and that should start among the young ones,” Aguilos said.

Ahmed Cuizon, regional director of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board-7, said that it could go a long way to help our school children avoid road accidents.

Cuizon said that the school plays an indispensable role in promoting road safety especially among young students.

“This is why we are counting on the schools to ensure that our children are safe, seeing to it that school transport providers comply with safety standards set by LTFRB,” Cuizon said.

Major Erwin Ermac, operations manager of the Traffic Enforcement and Management (TEAM) of Mandaue City, said the proposal is a laudable move because one of the reasons why there are plenty of traffic accidents and traffic congestions is due to the ignorance of the drivers and pedestrians of the traffic rules and regulations.

“Atoa man lang gud ge taken for granted ang traffic rules. Try to ask a very basic question about traffic sa atong mga drivers, out of ten pila ra kaha ang maka answer ug husto,” Ermac said.

Sylvan “Jack” Jakosalem, executive director of the City Integrated Traffic Operations Management (CITOM) of Cebu City, said the proposed measure would surely make school children educated about traffic safety at an early age.

Department of Education (DepEd-7) director Dr. Carmelita Dulangon also welcomed the bill. She said this will help ensure the students’ safety in coming to school.

“That will be good, so that children will learn at an early age how to keep themselves safe as they go to and from school, especially when they walk on the side of the road, or when they get off a vehicle, or when they cross the street,” Dulangon said.

In support of their bill, the authors cited a report of the World Health Organization in 2004 stating that road traffic injuries accounted for 2.2% of total deaths, making it the 9th leading cause of death.

WHO estimated that in 2030 the percentage will increase to 3.5%, making it the 5th leading cause of death already by then, only behind heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lower respiratory infections.

WHO reported last April 2011 that in the Philippines road traffic accident deaths reached 8,175 or 1.94% of total deaths.

Under the proposed bill, a new subject called road courtesy, discipline and traffic safety education shall be included in the school curriculum which will be taught starting from Grade 1 level up to 4th year high school.

The topics in the new subject will include traffic signs and what they mean, rights and obligations of pedestrians, rights and obligations of drivers, rights and obligations of vehicle owners and public utility vehicles, Philippine laws on driving, fines and penalties, and a subject on Local Traffic Codes, among others.—(FREEMAN)