Tuesday, July 01, 2008

The roads that bind us

Traffic-related injuries and deaths come at a staggering cost to
society—especially in developing countries like the Philippines
By Brian Afuang

WE are all road users. Poor education, general misconceptions and a

low level of awareness have led many Filipinos to mistakenly believe
that the issue of road safety impacts only on vehicle owners. But the
fact is everybody who uses the streets—be they pedestrians, motorists,
peddlers, beggars and the like—all have a stake in the issue, and the
lack of knowledge in this regard comes at a staggering cost to lives and
the economy.

The numbers tell part of the sad story. Figures cited by the United
Nations (UN) Development Account, which is tasked with improving
road safety worldwide, put traffic-related deaths at 1.2 million a year
and injuries at more than 40 million globally. The UN considers it a
public health crisis on the same scale as AIDS, malaria and
tuberculosis.

The World Health Organization (WHO), for its part, estimates that
between 2000 and 2015, 20 million deaths and 200 million serious
injuries caused by road accidents will occur, with hundreds of millions
of people more left to suffer the loss of loved ones or to care for
surviving victims. In its 2000 figures, WHO ranked road accidents the
seventh biggest killer in the world, and by 2020, WHO forecasts it
would rise to the third spot, behind only heart disease and suicide.

Besides being a public-health issue, road safety is an economic problem

as well. The UN contends that in these road accident-related deaths
and injuries, “the large majority” came or will come from developing
countries and “economies in transition.” WHO, in its World Report on
Traffic Injury Prevention, says that between 2000 and 2020 “road
traffic deaths will decline by about 30 percent in high-income countries
but will increase substantially in low-income and middle-income
countries.”
Road crashes cost more than $1 billion a year, the UN says. To relate
the cost on a more personal level, it adds an entire family could be
impoverished when its breadwinner is killed or injured in a road
accident.

As part of a regional road safety program for the Philippines, the Asian
Development Bank (ADB) and Asean published an Accident Costing
Report that identifies the damages a road accident incur in what’s
called “cost component categories.” Topping this list is lost output;
pain, grief and suffering; medical costs; property damage; and
administrative costs. Done to quantify the costs, what this list
illustrates is that road accidents are clearly never simple, with effects
that reach far beyond what appear on the surface.

International efforts

No less than the UN is heading the initiatives, with its various

commissions tackling projects related to road safety in global, regional
and local levels. As recently as April 25, the UN General Assembly
adopted a resolution on “improving global road safety” that stressed
the importance for member states to use the WHO World Report on
Road Traffic Injury Prevention as a “framework for road safety efforts
and implementing its recommendations.”

The World Bank (WB) is another organization that’s actively pursuing

efforts on improving road safety. While involved with similar projects as
those done by some UN commissions, one of WB’s most significant
undertakings is its establishment of the Global Road Safety Partnership
(GRSP). In the GRSP, the WB linked up with auto manufacturers,
believing they play major roles and definitely influence road safety
outcome through their products. It should be noted, though, that some
recommendations in the GRSP differ with some of those in the WHO
report.

Philippine setting

Things are not exactly ideal in the Philippines with regards to road
safety—which is only consistent with its developing-country status. The
ADB-Asean Regional Road Safety Program: Philippines Country Report
identified, among others, the Philippines’ inadequate provision for
public transportation as a road safety problem, as commuters waiting
for rides spill onto the streets, putting themselves at risk.

It also noted that while the country’s sidewalks are “relatively in good
condition,” numerous obstructions like illegal vendors, electrical posts
and even police and barangay outposts render the sidewalks unusable
for pedestrians—who are then left to walk on streets as a result. The
lack of pedestrian bridges contribute to the problem, too, which is
further compounded by the fact that many pedestrians also do not use
most of these bridges for varying reasons, security, inconvenience or
plain laziness chief among these.

The ADB-Asean report said the country’s traffic signs and markings
have “generally followed” international standards that were set in the
Vienna Convention for traffic signs in 1968—of which the Philippines is
a signatory. However, the report also said that many traffic signs still
do not conform to standard color and shapes, and noted that in highly
urbanized areas, these signs could “hardly be recognized [much less
read] as they compete with giant billboards in visibility and
craftsmanship.”

While the ADB-Asean report cited the Metro Manila Development

Authority (MMDA) for the agency’s sidewalk-clearing efforts, it chided
the MMDA for closing intersections in favor of U-Turn slots. The ADB-
Asean report noted that the MMDA’s intention of improving traffic
speeds along arterials sacrifices safety concerns in the process.

Local initiatives

According to the ADB-Asean report, the Philippine government has set

up through an administrative order in May 1992 the Interagency Road
Safety Committee, which is headed by the secretary of the Department
of Public Works and Highways, and is comprised by top officials of the
Department of Education, Department of the Interior and Local
Government, Department of National Defense, Department of Health,
Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and the
Safety Organization of the Philippines.

In 1996, the DOTC was tasked to coordinate all road safety activities in
the country and serve as chair of the National Road Safety Council
(NRSC).

The Philippines’ private sector, for its part, is markedly more active in
road safety initiatives. Not surprisingly, heading the list of
organizations are auto manufacturers and those that are closely related
to the industry.

Ford Group Phils. has several road safety programs designed for youths
that are presently being conducted, some of which are in partnership
with the Tuason Racing School, which has also embraced road safety as
an advocacy. Ford allots a certain amount from every vehicle it sells to
fund its road safety program, too.

For several years, and along with its massive environmental efforts,
Toyota Motor Phils. has likewise been very active in road safety
projects. Working closely with the Automobile Association Phils. and the
University of the Philippines National Center for Transportation Studies
(UP-NCTS), Toyota has recently designated the UP Diliman campus as
a traffic city model from where the youth can learn safe road practices.
Toyota is involved or funds other road safety programs as well.

Honda Cars Phils. and its motorcycle arm, Honda Phils., have taken
significant steps too by establishing a huge facility that’s dedicated to
road safety. Called the Honda Safety Driving Center (HSDC), it offers
training courses for drivers and motorcyclists in a controlled
environment.

HSDC General Manager Arnel Doria says Honda sees it as “a social

obligation to spearhead the campaign for improved traffic discipline and
help reduce road accidents in parallel with government efforts through
the NRSC.”

Doria adds, “Honda enjoins the private sector to band together in this
campaign as road safety is everyone’s concern, regardless of one’s
preferred brand of vehicle.”

Speaking of private groups, the Society of Philippine Motoring

Journalists (SPMJ) [The author is a founding member—Ed.] has for
several years been offering training modules for educators that can be
used in high schools. Through funding from carmakers, the SPMJ
commissioned the UP-NCTS to create the modules, which have now
been used in about a hundred high schools in Metro Manila.

The road ahead

With driver error as the most common reason in road accidents, the
ADB-Asean report recommends the government should implement
stricter drivers’ licensing and drivers’ education programs. It also calls
for campaigns to prohibit street children, vendors and others from
roadways, and for concerned government agencies to improve their
data collection. The report frowns on the trial-and-error
experimentation presently being conducted with regards to traffic
schemes. It also says the basic attitude on traffic issues of everybody
concerned should be improved.

In other words, it’s everybody’s sense of responsibility and regard for

proper traffic practices that will ensure the safety of the roads that bind
us all.
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/july/01/yehey/motoring/20080701moto1.html