ZAMBOANGA CITY,
OCT. 27, -
- The city lauded the Land Transportation Office 9 headed by regional director Atty.
Aminola Abaton for organizing the Law Enforcement and Road Safety Summit.
“We need to educate
the public about the rules of the road, and we have to enforce those rules. We
will address the environment of our roads, separating modes of travel where it
makes sense and designing our streets in ways that promote safety. We will
evaluate our actions to ensure we are taking the right steps to reach our goal
of zero fatalities, making adjustments as needed and making efficient use of
our resources,” Mayor Celso Lobregat said during the recently-concluded two-day summit.
“We will build a
culture of empathy. We all have a right to use our roads safely, no matter how
we choose to get around. It’s time we started looking out for each other, and
taking responsibility for protecting the safety of everyone whether they are
walking, biking, riding transit, driving or using any other means to get
around,” he said.
According to Lobregat, road accidents and the huge
volume of vehicles plying the streets on a daily basis are considered as the
top reasons for the heavy traffic situation in Manila.
In the Philippines, statistics from the Metropolitan
Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Philippine National Police-Highway
Patrol Group (PNP-HPG) reveal that a total of 1,833 persons were killed, while
almost 29,000 people were injured in the 85,820 road accidents that were
recorded in 2011.
In relation to this, road accidents have also been
ranked by the Department of Health (DoH) as the fourth top cause of death in
the country, next to heart disease, leukemia and cancer.
In Zamboanga City, the number of motor vehicles
plying the streets has reached 71,707 or 315% increase in 10 years, thereby
causing traffic in certain intersections, especially during peak hours.
However, it has been observed that road accidents seldom happen on busy
streets. Most of the vehicular accidents occurred on national highways, where
they have much space to drive on.
“We all have a right
to use our roads safely, no matter how we choose to get around. It’s time we
start looking out for each other, and taking responsibility for protecting the
safety of everyone whether they are walking, biking, riding transit, driving or
using any other means to get around,” the chief executive said.
Present during the summit were LTO Assistant
Secretary Virginia P. Torres, DOTC Asst. Secretary and National Focal Point
Decade of Action for Road Safety Dante Lantin, LTO Operations Division Chief
Menelia Mortel, LTO Traffic Safety Division Chief Daisy Jacobo and LTO Asst.
Regional Director Mohammad Yusop Lamping.(JPA/VL/CIO/PIA9)
