"Local government units must be required to upgrade their existing road systems to meet international standards."
There is not a single day that we do not read in the papers or watch on TV of people dying due to traffic accidents. The scary part is that it is happening with increasing frequency. This simply shows that driving in this country is getting to be very dangerous.
There are many reasons for this phenomenon. One is the changing patterns of the driving culture in this country, principally due to increasing motorization. The other is a road system that cannot keep pace with this rapid motorization both in terms of road length and engineering standards. Many of our roads are simply substandard. In the Metropolitan area, motorists are force to compete for the limited road space.
Drivers have be more aggressive and we are beginning to see fewer and fewer drivers who are willing to give way to other motorists. Road courtesy appears to be disappearing. In 2015, which is the year that there is a reliable data, 10,767 people were killed in this country due to vehicular accidents. This is a 45.76-percent increase from the 6,869 figure in 2006 and constitutes about 1.74 percent of the country’s total deaths. It also translates to about 11.82 people dying per 100,000 population.
Traffic deaths have been increasing since 2006. Beginning in 2010, traffic deaths have never been below 8,000. It is therefore safe to assume that for 2018, the number of road deaths will be much higher. The most vulnerable group are those ages 15 to 64. It was about 82.17 percent of the road deaths or 8,227 of the total deaths.
Traffic accident is also the major cause of death of those belonging to the 20-to-29 age group. A sad part in this includes the death of 600 children. It is worse among motorcycle riders. Nationwide, 69 percent of all road deaths involved motorcycles which is hardly surprising because of the total 8.7 million motor vehicles registered nationwide, in 2015, 4.8M are motorcycles. Motorcycle riders have been the top victims of road accidents in Metro Manila since 2010. The number reached 81.04% in 2015. This maybe because motorcycle riders seems to have the mistaken belief that all traffic regulations do not apply to them. Motorcycles can be dangerous to car owners because of the constant weaving and overtaking on all sides. They also routinely get out of their lanes and drive against incoming traffic.
Among the major island groups, Luzon has the most traffic accidents and fatalities because most of the vehicles are in Luzon followed by the Visayas and Mindanao. For 2015, 51.6 percent of nationwide road deaths were in Luzon. To put our country’s traffic figures in better perspective, it might be educational to see how we compare with the United States. In the U.S., the latest data shows that there are 34,064 traffic deaths or 10.9 per 100,000 population. This is out of 263.6 million vehicles registered in 2015. Compare that figure to our 8.7 million registered vehicles and we can begin to understand the immensity of our traffic problems.
If we look at our road system and transport figures, it is clear that we are heading to a situation that will cause huge problems if our transport and highway authorities will not start addressing the problem. As Filipinos continue to motorize at a much faster rate because of increasing income, traffic accidents will also continue to increase. It is about time that there must be a corresponding improvement in driver education, traffic enforcement and road infrastructure. The country has a total of 32,868 kilometers of roads or 20,423 miles. Only 21,181 kilometers of the roads are concrete. The greater Los Angeles Metropolitan area has more than 12,000 miles of roads which tells us that we have a lot of work to do.
We do not only need to lengthen our roads but also improve their quality to ensure that our road system meets international standards. When it comes to the length of our road system, we can compare favorably or even better than many of our neighbors. But in terms of quality, we are lagging. Our road system translates to about a kilometer of road per one square kilometer which is respectable but has not hardly moved over the years. Let me say, however, that the road figures mentioned here do not include private roads. If we include private roads, then the length of our roads increases. There are no reliable figures for private roads but in the metro area, private roads come to a few thousand kilometers but are not all open to the public at large which contribute to the daily traffic gridlock. Most of the projects in the metro area consist of big road projects connecting major road systems. Not much is done to improve local roads. A major part of the government effort should also address this because this is where a major part of the problem is located. Most of the public roads in the metro suburbs and other major cities are not constructed to standards. The roads are narrow and are being used as parking areas for vehicle owners. It is therefore hardly surprising that many accidents occur. Even in national highways such as the old Macarthur Highway in Luzon, it is regularly used for palay drying and many electrical posts have not been removed from the road.
The government is of course currently implementing its Build, Build, Build program and a major part of this is the construction of new freeways. The government, however, should come up with a program requiring local government units to upgrade their existing road systems to meet international standards. Otherwise, road deaths will only continue to rise by leaps and bounds.
