Thursday, November 25, 2010

A Call for Road Safety in the Philippines

It is a tragic sight to encounter every single day, the victims of vehicular accidents and this is pretty much a common find too when you read the newspaper or watch the news on TV.

In an article by Anna Barbara L. Lorenzo, dated October 13, 2010 entitled "Safety advocates reveal alarming number of road accidents in RP," it was mentioned there that about Fifty road accidents occur everyday. And this is the kind of statistics that most people can actually believe in because it is a rampant occurrence in the country.

I'm pretty much a laid back person with very minimal reaction or hardly shows aggression but when I'm on the road driving, most public vehicles and motorcycles are such a pain to deal with. They just pop instantly in front of your view without signalling and drivers don't even give a damn about others' safety if they don't seem to care about theirs. Add the fact that there are a lot of people who drink and drive.

Around May 2010, the global ambassadress of "Make Roads Safe campaign" Michelle Yeoh, went here in the Philippines to promote the advocacy. I would have loved to meet the famous Chinese actress and join the cause. But I do not think any improvement in our road safety had been noticed even after the event.

There are laws and politicians who recognize this alarming issue but the problem is the implementation. Honestly, I don't think we should completely rely on the enforcers but we should also do our part. Otherwise it's really a sad realization to find out that the Philippines' own citizens do not really care at all. Again it would all boil down to discipline because even if some would be more careful when they drive or cross the road, if not everyone practices the same kind of discipline then road accidents would still be rampant.

I would love to share legitimate statistics, sadly I haven't found any. I'd be happy to include that in my blog if anyone would send me links or data. Thank you in advance. Be safe everyone!

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