Start the year right, review your role in road safety

A sustained crackdown against overloaded trucks and trailers, which threaten road safety and can result in fatal road accidents, was ordered early this week by the Land Transportation Office (LTO).  In the national highways, an overloaded truck is an accident waiting to happen because its handling, like braking distance and driving downhill, will be affected by its cargo weight.

In 2023, the LTO recorded some ₱42.7 million in penalties from overloading violations of motor vehicles, mostly trucks and trailers.

The LTO order to enforce a crackdown or severe measures to stop this dangerous situation is also a reminder on the value of road safety. We have laws and local ordinances setting measures to make our roads safe, but if people disregard these, road accidents will continue to cause injuries and death.

Last month, the WHO Global Status Report on Road Safety 2023 showed that the “annual number of road traffic deaths fell slightly to 1.19 million per year. Yet with more than two deaths occurring per minute and over 3,200 per day, road traffic crashes remain the leading cause of mortality among children and youth aged five to 29 years. Pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable road users are facing an acute and rising risk of death.”

In the Philippines, the Department of Transportation (DOTR), the World Health Organization (WHO), and road safety partners launched the report which “emphasizes that despite notable progress, road safety remains an urgent global issue.”

The report said that “in the Philippines, an increasing trend of road traffic deaths was seen in the past decade, with road traffic deaths increasing by 39 percent from 7,938 deaths in 2011 to 11,096 deaths based on the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Report, in 2021.”

The WHO report also said that at least 84 percent of road traffic deaths are among males and a major cause of mortality among children is road traffic injury. “Motorcyclists, pedestrians, and bicyclists are among those considered vulnerable road users. Road traffic injuries are estimated to cost about 2.6 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.”

Dr. Rui Paulo de Jesus, WHO Representative to the Philippines, pointed out that “road safety is a multisectoral concern. We should continue to work together to keep our roads safe.”

Government agencies tasked to regulate our roads should continue to enforce the laws that aim to keep our roads safe, among them, the law to ensure the road worthy condition of the motor vehicles.

“Our strict implementation of laws on overloading is one of the measures that we could do to ensure safety of road users,” said LTO chief Vigor D. Mendoza II.

The government has developed the Philippine Road Safety Action Plan 2023-2028 which aims to reduce the number of road traffic deaths by 35 percent in 2028.

In the private sector, corporations, non-government organizations and civic groups who have established road safety education programs can expand this to reach more groups of road users.

Motorists and motorcycle drivers should take time to review the condition of their vehicles even if they are not going on a long drive. For example, defective brakes will cause injury or damage even if one is only in the city.

Pedestrians should obey traffic rules that define where they can wait for a public vehicle or where to cross a street.

Road safety is a concern of everyone who uses the road. Start by getting to know the traffic rules.