MANILA, Philippines 鈥� Senator Grace Poe on Friday renewed her call to urgently pass the transportation safety bill amid the rising cases of road mishaps.
听Poe said that the alarming incidents should prompt the government to implement measures to address the concerns.
鈥淟ives are lost and injuries are sustained daily by motorists for reasons that could have been prevented in the first place. This is simply unacceptable,鈥� Poe said in a statement.听
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Poe was the author of the Senate Bill No. 1121 or the proposed Philippine Transportation Safety Board. The bill aims to establish an agency responsible for investigating transportation-related accidents.
鈥淲e want both our drivers and passengers to come home safe to their families at the end of the day.听 As they say, safety is no accident,鈥� Poe added.听
The senator said that drivers must be educated enough to know and adhere to traffic laws and road conditions.
She also noted that free training can be coordinated through the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority for public utility drivers.
Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa on Wednesday sounded alarm on the rising number of children and young people killed in road crashes.听
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He said that there had been a 25.6% increase in road crashes per year, of which 72% are males and majority involved are young children and young adults.
He cited Philippine Statistics Authority data where 12,241 road crash deaths were recorded in 2022.
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority also reported 62,723 road incidents with 332 fatalities from January to November 2024.
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