NAGA CITY (May 24) – "Road safety is a responsibility of every sector in the community," said Land Transportation Office (LTO) Naga District Chief Grace Rojas during the Kapihan sa PIA Camarines Sur held at Summit Hotel and Resorts here, Wednesday, May 17.

“Road safety should be a shared and common cause of everybody. Kailangan po natin itong lahat. Hindi lang kaming mga nasa LTO. We all need to give our 100% support or contribution para mabawasan ang ating road crashes,” Rojas said.

The said forum aimed to highlight different government programs and activities pertaining to road safety and precaution as the National Road Safety Month is being observed this month of May.

Rojas added that road accidents now reached to 1.35 million recorded cases worldwide. Thus, emerging as an alert to threat, she added that to be able to change this, there must be a convergence effort to minimize, if not eradicate the road crashes. “All of us should work hand-in-hand.”

Relatively, the Camarines Sur Police Provincial Office (CSPPO) has recorded 1,275 incidents of road crashes from January to May this year.

CSPPO mouth Police Major Victoria Abalaing said that these cases include 618 reckless imprudence resulting to damage to property, 627 reckless imprudence resulting to physical injury, and 30 resulting in homicide.

The police officer said that common to these road incidents are motorcycle-riding individuals.

Causes of road crashes

Rojas discussed common causes of road crashes such as over speeding, and disregarding road signages along hi-ways.

“Every rider should observe the standard driving speed. Kailangan mayroon tayong system para hindi tayo lagi nagmamadali. Kung nagmamadali lagi, yung focus on driving, nawawala,” she reminded the public.

The importance of systematic driving, the LTO Naga chief said, is being able to get enough time to check the tire, check the vehicle accessories, and check oneself before driving.

Another common cause of road crash is negligence to bring proper driving documents such as driver’s license with proper code, and the vehicle’s registration with timely official receipts. She also asked the owners not to modify the parts of the vehicle in order not to cause apprehension.

Simply not wearing standard protective helmet with ICC sticker and seatbelt, is also a violation.

“There are hidden cameras alongside highways –  even though you were not apprehended, nakacapture ang vehicle mo, kaya kapag nakaregister ka, hindi ka makaregister because of recorded violation,” she said.

Another violation is driving an unregistered vehicle. “An unregistered vehicle may cause several implications such as failed vehicle parts. What we are after is not just compliance to polices but the safety of the public.”

Rojas also urged the public not to use plate numbers that are not issued by LTO.

All-of-government-approach

Dr. Rey Millena from the Department of Health (DOH) Camarines Sur said that different medical care and health advisories are being strengthened by the government which shall be reinforced by the local government units and other sectors of the communities.

“We continue to advocate against violence and road crash. Ini po all-of-government-approach na. Nagtatao kami nin guidelines and the execution nasa poder na po ng LGUs,” Dr. Millena said.

Both socio-economic development or education plus the enforcement should be the priorities of the local government. Part of that, he added, is the community safety and police visibility.

Millena said that both the DOH and the Department of the Interior and Local Government work together to achieve a healthy setting in the communities, and in schools so that all efforts will lead to informed citizenry, and could make them cautious in observing road policies.

“All the programs and campaigns of respective LGUs will surely have great impacts. Each LGU should provide specific expert personnel for this matter so that they will be competent to create local policies and champion towards road crash-free communities in our country,” he said. (PIA5/Camarines Sur)