DOTr to launch its updated, comprehensive road safety program

In a bid to reduce the number of road-crash deaths by 2022, the Department of Transportation is set to launch its updated, comprehensive road safety program on November 19.

The version of the Philippine Road Safety Action Plan (PRSAP) for 2017 to 2022 will be based on the "Safe System Approach," according to DOTr assistant secretary Arnold Fabillar.

The DOTr had an initial target of reducing road death rate by at least 20 percent in 2011 but the updated vision aims to have a "Philippine society with zero deaths on the road" by 2022.

"Road safety or even the traffic condition problem is a complex one and needs a comprehensive approach so addressing this comprehensively involves engineering, education, enactment of laws and ordinances, enforcement as well as the environment. So, these five Es should go hand in hand," Fabillar said at the Road Safety for Sustainable Cities forum held in Quezon City.

"The number of deaths and injuries arising from road crashes are still increasing globally, and in the Philippines. You know, even just one fatality its really, really a major concern for everybody, because the understanding here is, what if [the one involved in accidents] is your mother or your father or your children?" he added.

Fabillar said that every year, there are 1.25 million deaths around the world in which "90 percent of mostly vulnerable road users [are] from low- and middle- income countries that account for 54 percent of the world's vehicle population."

He added that this would translate into about 20 to 50 million injuries, and this would still continue to increase over the years.

Citing data from the Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group, Fabillar said that the number of road-crash deaths is rising, with an annual average growth rate of 3 percent from 2006 to 2015.

Meanwhile, a total of 24,656 traffic accidents were recorded in 2015 and about 32,269 in 2016.

Road traffic injuries according to Fabillar is the leading cause of death globally and is said to be the number one cause of death among ages 15 to 29, which he described as the "most economically-active or productive age group."

A budget proposal amounting to P27.98 million was approved for the full implementation of PRSAP, which include the Database for Road Incident Visualization Evaluation and Reporting System (DRIVERS), training and capacity building, policy review and communications campaign. —LBG, GMA News