600 deaths recorded from 5,000 road accidents in Q1

CUTTING EDGE A passenger bus hangs precariously on the edge of the southbound flyover at Edsa and Ortigas Avenue in Mandaluyong City on Wednesday. The accident injured 10 passengers and triggered a massive traffic jam. A passenger told police investigators that the bus driver was speeding and text messaging at the same time, a sure-fire formula for accidents waiting to happen. MMDA PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Nearly 600 deaths from over 5,000 road accidents have been recorded in the first quarter of this year, Highway Patrol Group spokesman, Superintendent Edwin Butacan said Thursday.

From January to June, Butacan said HPG has recorded 5,021 accidents, 54 of which were major cases, and has noted 593 fatalities and 2,376 injuries.

Major accidents, he explained, “are cases where there are many fatalities,” adding that Manila topped the list with the most number of road accidents.

The leading factor in road accidents, Butacan said, was human error, such as “bad overtaking, bad turning, over speeding, and even the use of cell phone while driving” followed by mechanical defects like failed breaks.

“There are few cases on road condition but road defects still ranked third as leading cause of road accidents,” Butacan said.

Also, another contributing factor may probably be “lack of education and information” on the consequences of being convicted in a road accident-related case, as well as the lack of proper formal training in driving.

“I think many drivers lacked training…and very few went through formal training,” he said.

‘Established culture in driving’

Asked if HPG has observed any improvement following the imposition of fixed salary for passenger bus drivers earlier this week, Butacan said that it is too early to see changes mainly because of the “established culture” of bus drivers in going about their work.

The government has imposed the new wage system for bus drivers and conductors to reduce road accidents. Under the old boundary system, drivers tend to commit traffic violations, like reckless driving, just to get as many passengers as they can.

The “adaptation” to the new salary scheme will probably take more than six months, he said, as similar to the period when motorists were able to adapt and habitually follow the Seatbelt Law.

But as compared to last year’s tally, road accidents went down this year from 2011’s total number of accidents at 7,771, fatalities at 688, and injuries at 3,134. Jamie Marie Elona