Motorcycles topped the list of vehicles involved in accidents with the highest number of deaths and injuries last year, according to records of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).
Based on the recently released data gathered by the MMDA’s Metro Manila Accident Recording and Analysis System (MMRAS), of the total 519 deaths and 17,103 injuries due to road accidents recorded last year, motorcycles accounted for 262 deaths and 11,620 injuries.
In second place: Cars with 125 fatalities and 7,427 injuries.
According to the MMDA, the rise in deaths and injuries due to motorcycle accidents can be attributed to their riders’ failure to use the lanes designated for them.
Darwin Mones of the MMDA’s Road Safety Unit noted during the agency’s weekly radio program on Sunday that the figures for motorcycles last year were higher compared to 2014. “We had 204 deaths and 10,735 injuries two years ago,” he said.
He observed that motorcycle riders were more apt to disregard the lanes set aside for their use on Commonwealth Avenue, Edsa or Macapagal Boulevard.
According to him, the majority of Metro road accidents occurred on Commonwealth Avenue and Edsa.
“When we first implemented the motorcycle lane in 2010, motorcycle-related accidents really went down,” Mones said, adding that the figures have since been on the rise as riders ignore the lanes designated for their two-wheeled vehicles.
MOTORCYCLE lane: The safe zone, according to the MMDA. NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
Other factors that could also be to blame for the increase are human error, the proliferation of cheap and low quality motorcycles being sold in the country, and the worsening traffic and road conditions in Metro Manila, the MMDA said.
Based on the results of the MMRAS released last week, there were a total of 95,615 traffic accidents in the National Capital Region for 2015, up by around 5,000 compared to the year before. Of the total, 90,629 involved cars followed by motorcycles with 20,283.
The MMRAS is an MMDA program created to record and identify traffic accidents in the metropolis in order to improve road management with the help of traffic enforcers from different local government units and the Philippine National Police.
Mones said the highest number of accidents were recorded on Edsa and Commonwealth Avenue, two of the 50 major thoroughfares in Metro Manila tagged as most-accident prone.
Also on the list were Quirino Highway in Caloocan, C4 in Malabon, Radial Road 10 in Navotas, Maysan Road in Valenzuela, Osmeña Highway in Makati, Alabang-Zapote Road in Las Piñas, West Service Road in Muntinlupa, Dr. A. Santos Avenue in Parañaque, C5 and C.P. Garcia in Taguig, Osmeña Highway in Manila and Marcos Highway in Marikina. With John Cyril Yee
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