DOTr chief says PH road safety anchored on education, prevention

The leadership of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) shared that the agency is intensifying the country’s road safety action plan through preventive approach and education campaign.

During the launch of Philippine Road Safety Action Plan (PRSAP) 2023-2028, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said the department has teamed up with the World Health Organization (WHO), The Policy Center, government agencies, private sector, non-governmental organizations (NGO), and road users to increase road safety education efforts to prevent road crashes.

"The Department of Transportation takes road safety seriously. Our approach is anchored on prevention and education," Bautista mentioned.

Further, he also said that the Land Transportation Office (which is currently manned by Atty. Hector Villacorta) is frontlining the government’s road safety education program by involving knowledge of defensive and safe driving as license requirement, and vehicle roadworthiness.

Additionally, the transport chief noted that the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP) is also part of the department’s road safety thrusts — upgrading smoke-belching jeepneys to modern PUV units that conform to Philippine National Standards.

Other road safety projects, Bautista said, that are being implemented in the country are the Active Transport, EDSA Greenways, and with the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) concept of the EDSA Busway being replicated in Cebu and Davao. 

With that, Bautista called on stakeholders to finetune efforts to ensure that roads are getting safer especially for the children. "Majority of our transport projects are aligned towards promoting road safety. But we need to benchmark the effectiveness of our initiatives with global standards," he pointed out.

The PRSAP 2023-2028 serves as a roadmap for road safety in the country. 

Guided by the vision of a Philippine society with zero deaths on the road, and a target of at least 35-percent reduction in road traffic deaths by 2028, the PRSAP has five pillars: road safety management, safer roads and mobility, safer vehicles, safer road users, and post-crash response.  

Based on the data from Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) an average of 1,670 children in the country are victimized by road crashes annually. The aforementioned number is part of the 12,000 road-related fatalities in the country annually.

Photos from Department of Transportation-Philippines Facebook page

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