CEBU, Philippines - About 4,000 road accidents have been recorded by the City Traffic Operations Management in different places in Cebu City from January to May this year.
These accidents have claimed the lives of 16 people and injured over 500 others.
CITOM Executive Officer Rafael Christopher Yap reported to the Cebu City Council that close to 1,000 road accidents occur in the city every month.
Records show that 935 accidents occurred in January, 874 occurred in February, 845 happened in March, and 772 happened in April. Numbers are still collated for May but figures, by far, are now close to 1,000.
Joy Tumulak, head of CITOM’s operations branch, believe drivers who disregard traffic rules religiously or worse are not aware of rules on the road, are a major factor in the occurrence of these accidents.
Tumulak said CITOM records would show that when classes resumed in the first week of June, about 200 road accidents were reported, 83 of them involved motorcycles.
Yap reported further that 14 people have died during various accidents in Cebu City from January to April. Tumulak said two people have died this month alone.
Meanwhile, the CITOM Board headed by Ruben Almendras has asked the City Council to help acquire P27 million, which will be included in the next Supplemental Budget, to purchase traffic signal systems to be installed in various intersections in the city. The Board is proposing that these will be paid on a staggered basis.
With more and more vehicles nowadays, the CITOM Board said severe traffic congestion happen easily, particularly during peak hours.
The Land Transportation Office has reported that last December, the number of registered vehicles in Central Visayas reached 652,828 from 625,318 in 2012. Most of these vehicles are in Cebu City and other nearby cities and municipalities.
In 1991, the city government spent millions to install the so-called Sydney Coordinated Adapted Traffic System (SCATS). Electronics connections were buried beneath every major intersection but after 23 years, many of these gadgets are no longer functioning.
Yap explained that parts for the repair of the defective SCATS are no longer available from any supplier given that the city’s version of SCATS is already obsolete. He said because of budgetary constraints, it is more feasible to program the replacement or upgrading of our traffic signal system by phases. (FREEMAN)