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November 17, 2024 is the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims (WDoR). The Move As One Coalition calls on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to firmly commit to transforming our country’s deadly roads into safe streets where people can walk and ride their bicycles without fear of dying or being injured in a road crash.
Hardly a day goes by without someone dying on our country’s unsafe roads. That someone could be John, a Grade 3 pupil in Lapu-Lapu City, who died shortly after a motorcycle rider hit him as he was crossing the road to his school on November 12. It could be Simon Doctolero, an MMDA employee, who died last September after an SUV driver smashed into him as he was directing traffic at around 2 a.m. during a tile cleaning operation at an underpass in Quezon City.
On WDoR 2024, let’s pause to remember all those who have lost their lives on our unsafe roads. Let’s also say a prayer for those who have been injured in a road crash.
For every person who dies in a road crash, 16 to 42 people are injured, according to estimates by the World Health Organization. Nicole Mercado, a bank employee, is one such person. She was already on a pedestrian lane in Bonifacio Global City when an SUV driver ran a red light and rammed into her, causing her body to fall hard on the concrete road, on November 6.
The Coalition is heartened that Pres. Marcos Jr., during a recent meeting with Jean Todt, the United Nations Secretary-General’s special envoy for road safety, agreed to Todt’s proposal to create a task force that would work alongside the UN on road safety initiatives. This task force will reportedly include the secretaries of six government departments: transportation, health, public works and highways, interior and local government, trade and industry, and education.
This is a baby step in the right direction. Much work is needed to fulfill the president’s commitment “to making our roads safer for all Filipinos” and to implement the significant transportation policy in the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028 declaring that “pedestrians and cyclists will be accorded highest priority in the hierarchy of road users.”
Robert Siy Jr., a co-convenor of the Move As One Coalition, says: “Road safety needs to be supported at the highest level of government and requires a ‘whole of government’ approach. Pres. Marcos Jr. now needs to issue clear marching orders so that there are specific responsibilities and accountabilities laid out with measurable targets.”
The Philippines has a lot of catching up to do to realize a future where every journey ends safely. The Philippine Road Safety Action Plan (PRSAP) 2017-2022 adopted an interim target to reduce the road death rate by at least 20% by 2022. But data from the Philippine Statistics Authority shows that there has been scant progress in reducing the number of people dying in road crashes from 11,360 in 2017 to 11,096 in 2021.
According to PRSAP 2023-2028, a rapid review of the implementation of PRSAP 2017-2022 showed that “many challenges have hampered the full attainment of road safety goals. The most striking realities were that organizations were underfunded, and road safety was not the top priority” (emphasis supplied).
Political will and strong leadership are key to reducing the number of road traffic deaths by 35% in 2028, as stated in PRSAP 2023-2028. Without these key elements, as reflected in sufficient budgets and human resources, PRSAP 2023-2028’s vision of “a Philippine society with zero deaths on the road” will not be achieved.
The first sentence of PRSAP 2023-2028’s number-one recommendation reads: “Road safety should be a felt priority of [the] government, with provision of adequate resources to implement its planned activities.”
The Coalition asserts that we need more funding for active transport, i.e., walking and cycling. The slashing of the budget for active transport from P1 billion in the 2024 General Appropriations Act to P60 million in the 2025 National Expenditure Program — a 94% decrease — is unacceptable. This meager budget will be spread too thinly for all the construction, maintenance, and upkeep of bike and pedestrian facilities. It will expose millions of pedestrians and people on bicycles to constant risk of injury or death in a road crash.
During Todt’s visit, pedestrian safety was reportedly discussed. Transportation secretary Jaime Bautista said: “There are many instances that there’s not much space for pedestrians. And this one we will discuss with the DPWH so that for future construction of roads and improvements of roads, the improvement of pedestrian lanes can be considered.”
The Coalition eagerly awaits safer and accessible infrastructure for pedestrians of all ages and abilities. These include at-grade pedestrian crossings, high-quality walkways, and up-to-standard ramps for persons with disabilities. #
