DATA IS KEY. Legal Development Fellow, P/Supt Oliver Tanseco cites the importance of data to road safety managers, implementers, and policy makers from Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon (Calabarzon) during the second day of the three-day training on road safety management at Selah Garden Hotel, Pasay City on Thursday (Aug 29, 2019). The data will help decision makers in promoting road safety and help justify the use of infinite resources. (PNA photo by Gladys S. Pino)
MANILA -- As road crashes become part of the public health concerns due to hospital admissions, deaths, injuries, disability, emotional and economic costs to society, Department of Health (DOH) Regional Director Eduardo C. Janairo has directed the regional Violence and Injury Prevention Programme (VIPP) team to mobilize the local government unit (LGU) safety managers, implementers, and policy makers in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) during the three-day training on road safety management.
Janairo said road safety is everybody’s concern and all stakeholders must organize a unified plan of action.
"Every accident is preventable if we only practice safety and adhered to moral and ethical principle. No person should die from road crashes or injuries,” he noted.
A Harvard study on the global burden of disease projects that road traffic crashes will be the Number 3 leading cause of death by 2020, up from its No. 10 ranking in 1990, if no interventions on road safety will be done.
The three-day training course was divided into two batches -- from Aug. 28 to 30 for the first batch, and on Sept. 4 to 6.
“Participants would be able to evaluate their role, including other stakeholders, in road safety," DOH Calabarzon VIPP Outcome Manager Paulina Calo said.
Calo expounded that the training will also help the participants assess the various issues related to road transport and safety, and their linkage "which are key in achieving good governance".
Likewise, participants are expected to disseminate information on the risk factors in road crashes and also develop a road safety action plan to help reduce road traffic deaths and injuries in their respective localities.
Various speakers shared on such topics as the status of road safety, system approach, and current initiatives of the government.
"For them to understand and be in better position to plan effectively, implement equitably and efficiently and assess/evaluate its programs and activities and projects (PAPs) for road safety and, hopefully, to communicate well the risks for both constituents and implementers for improved promotion and enforcement," Calo said.
In a 2018 World Health Organization (WHO) Global Status Report on road safety, there are about 1.34 million deaths from road accidents reported yearly.
Road accidents also ranked as the 8th leading cause of death worldwide and the number 1 cause of death for children and young adults aged 5-29 years old.
Low-income countries have the highest road traffic death rate at 24.7 per 100,000 population.
From this report, 49 percent of road traffic deaths were from motorcycles (23 percent), pedestrians (22 percent) and cyclists (4 percent).
It is estimated that at least 3,500 are killed and 100,000 injured daily and inestimable amount of crash costs yearly.
Philippine Statistics Authority data showed that a total of 11,360 road crash-related deaths were reported in 2017, with 7,194 deaths among the 20-29-year age group.
In Calabarzon, a data report from the Motor Vehicle Crash Investigation Program of the Land Transportation Office showed that around 65 road crash accidents occurred from January 1 to July 31, 2019. Quezon province has the highest number of deaths with 30; Batangas with 14; Rizal and Cavite with five each; and Laguna with two cases. There were also 357 injuries reported.
Among the top five causes of car crashes include overspeeding, overtaking, reckless driving, mechanical defect and losing control of the vehicle.
Road safety traffic and management are methods and measures imposed to prevent road users from getting killed or seriously injured.
Road users include pedestrians, cyclists, motorists and passengers of both public and private transport. (PNA)
