For the second year in a row, C5 Road was Metro Manila’s most dangerous thoroughfare, accounting for 27 deaths due to road crashes last year, up from 23 in 2017.
The Metro Manila Accident Reporting and Analysis System (MMRAS) of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) listed traffic-congested Edsa in second place with 21 deaths, up from 19 in 2017.
However, most of the accidents recorded last year occurred on Edsa which posted 17,276 cases, more than twice the 8,252 reported on C5 Road.
The other “killer roads” named in the MMRAS were Roxas Boulevard with 17 fatalities, MacArthur Highway with 11 deaths and Commonwealth Avenue with 10 fatalities.
Overall, the report — which was based on data culled by the MMDA and Metro Manila police — listed 394 fatalities due to vehicle collisions last year.
Effective MMDA solutions
The figure was lower than the 434 deaths recorded in 2017 which the MMDA attributed to the “effectiveness of [its] engineering solutions and interventions” for road safety.
But the report showed that road crashes had been increasing year-on-year since 2011. The 116,906 cases in 2018 were the highest so far compared to 110,025 in 2017.
Of the 116,906 road accidents last year, 383 cases led to deaths, 17,891 resulted in injuries while the rest caused damage to property.
Privately owned vehicles (cars and sport utility vehicles) accounted for most of the crashes, reaching 52 percent of the total.
The majority of the fatalities, however, resulted from accidents involving motorcycles. The two-wheeled vehicles were responsible for over 53 percent of the total number of deaths recorded. Of the 212 killed, 154 were drivers, 36 were passengers while the rest were pedestrians.
On average, over 70 crashes involving motorcycles were recorded daily last year, accounting for a total of 26,652 cases.
Trucks were the next top killers with 100 involved in fatal collisions, followed by private vehicles (95), and bicycles and pedicabs (24).
According to MMRAS, most of the fatalities were not even drivers or passengers of the vehicles involved in the accidents. Rather, 136 cases or more than a third were pedestrians either crossing the street or standing on the sidewalk.
Human error was cited as the top cause of road crashes — including losing control of the vehicle or drunk driving — followed by self-accident.
According to the World Health Organization, road accidents cost low- and middle-income countries, including the Philippines, an average of $65 billion annually, exceeding the total amount received in developmental assistance.