‘Let’s avoid becoming an MMDA statistic’

2 VICTIMS, NOT 1. As she was crossing the street near an intersection at Bonifacio Global City (BGC) on May 12, Australian national Jacinta Coote was hit by a sport utility vehicle after it was rammed on the side by another. According to her friend and fellow BGC resident, the “two reckless drivers didn’t just hit a pedestrian [but also] permanently damaged the health of a mother and an unborn child.’’ The near-fatal accident left Coote with 22 permanent screws and five titanium plates surgically placed on her face. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS

When Australian expatriate Jacinta Coote crossed the road at a pedestrian crossing in Bonifacio Global City (BGC) on May 12 to go buy bananas for her daughter, she never got them. Jacinta was nearly killed when two vehicles collided and hit her.

Jacinta suffered multiple fractures to her face, head and shoulder. For nearly a month, she was completely bedridden and dependent on nurses and her husband to feed her pureed food, give her medicine, and wash her. Due to the swelling in her brain, she suffered from excruciating head pain 24 hours a day.

When Jacinta asked for stronger medication from hospital staff to alleviate her pain, which she described as “having a knife cut through my skull,” the approval procedure was a lengthy one because she is in the first trimester of pregnancy. Any medication she takes, the baby also takes. The two reckless drivers didn’t just hit a pedestrian on May 12; they permanently damaged the health of a mother and an unborn child.

Jacinta was discharged from St. Luke’s Medical Center in a wheelchair with impaired vision and a 40-kilogram body frame. She will bear the emotional and physical trauma of the accident for the rest of her life, in addition to the 22 permanent screws and five permanent titanium plates surgically placed on her face. A month after the accident, she can barely walk more than several steps on her own.

418 Metro road deaths in 2014

Yet Jacinta is lucky. She is an expatriate with comprehensive health insurance. The consequences for someone without an insurance safety net would have been much worse.

According to the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) statistics, there were a total of 90,258 road accidents in Metro Manila in 2014, or an average of 248 accidents per day. Four hundred eighteen were fatal, 16,665 resulted in nonfatal injuries and 73,175 resulted in damage to property.

We are all pedestrians. Let’s avoid becoming an MMDA statistic.

You’ve all seen the horrific images of the accident in the media. Jacinta’s accident went viral on social media as soon as it happened. Closed-circuit television footage shows the drivers of both vehicles failing to slow down or stop at the pedestrian crossing she was using at the intersection of 30th Street and 2nd Avenue. The footage also shows excessive speed on the part of both drivers.

All of us have watched the imagery with horror in our eyes. What happened to Jacinta could have happened to any of us. How many of us chose to live and work in BGC because of its convenience for pedestrians? How many of us exercise on the streets of BGC every morning and night because the neighborhood was set up to promote safe outdoor physical activity? How many families, including young children, walk the streets of BGC daily?

Jacinta still hasn’t received an apology from the drivers who almost killed her.

BGC has ramp access at every street corner. It’s heaven for pedestrians with strollers. No, it used to be heaven for pedestrians. Ever since Jacinta’s accident, we’ve all been scared to walk and have hurriedly crossed the roads while nervously seeking eye contact with drivers and overgesticulating our desire to reach the other side safely. What landed Jacinta in the intensive care unit was a combination of factors, including an illegal right turn from the left lane and excess speed at a pedestrian crossing.

Even without authorities around

Why build modern road infrastructure and neglect the enforcement of road rules? The design of BGC was modeled on New York City. Manila’s own Manhattan. Except when you walk on Fifth Avenue here, you have nanoseconds to cross the road before a driver narrowly escapes hitting you, even though the countdown is much longer on the light pole.

Traffic enforcers should enforce all road rules in BGC, not just the ones that generate quick pocket money. Modernity doesn’t just involve fancy infrastructure. It also consists of modern thinking and behavior, such as respecting other people’s rights. This includes taking one’s own initiative to apply learned road rules even in the absence of authorities to enforce road safety. When each of us got our driver’s license, we accepted our responsibilities as drivers and these include respecting and applying road rules for the safety of all drivers and pedestrians.

Ignoring road rules has long term consequences that extend far beyond the day of the accident. Ignoring road rules can permanently damage the life and outlook of a person, the emotional and financial fabric of a family and the spirit of a community.

June 26 Family Walk

If you would like to participate in an appeal to the city council and the police to make the roads safer, please join us on June 26 for a Family Walk For Pedestrian Safety in BGC in support of all pedestrian victims of road-related accidents in the Philippines.

Let’s keep BGC safe for all, respect everyone’s right to cross roads safely and send a friendly reminder to all drivers about the importance of following road rules. The walk will begin at Burgos Circle at 4:30 p.m.

About the writer: T. Nguyen is an Australian expatriate residing in BGC and a close friend of Jacinta Coote. Earlier media reports on the May 12 accident quoting the police erroneously described Coote as a Thai national. –Ed.