Cebu City registers 47 deaths a year due to road accidents

Observing traffic rules not only ensures smooth traffic flow, but may also help save lives.

Joy Tumulak, Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) operations chief, said records from their office and the PNP Traffic Group showed that 47 out of 10,000 road accidents end in death.

From 2007 to October this year, Tumulak said 374 out of 80,661 road accidents ended in death. Of that number 30 to 40 percent involve motorcycles.

“We are disclosing this information, not to scare the people, but for them to become aware. It will be a big help if people are aware because they will be more careful on the road so that they don’t add up to these cases,” Tumulak said.

Yesterday was the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims.

He said the annual number of road accidents since 2007 averaged 10,000 cases.

Penalties

From January to October this year alone, Citom recorded 8,742 road accidents.

For accidents resulting to deaths, an average of 47 cases were recorded annually.

For this year, 41 deaths were recorded as of October. Tumulak said most of the accidents involved carelessness when using the roads.

But Tumulak said they’re expecting the cases to go down in the next few months due to Joint Administrative Order 2014-01 of the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) and the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

He said motorists and public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers are more careful due to tougher penalties for violations.

Education

He said Citom is conducting traffic education seminars among private companies and public transport groups.

Tumulak said they had another seminar with all City Hall drivers on road safety and traffic laws.

Tumulak said schools should start teaching about road laws and safety at the elementary level, especially for schools located right along big and busy roads in the city.

“It will be good for schools to strengthen traffic education among students so they start being aware at an early age,” he added.

He said Citom wrote Regional Director Carmelita Dulangon of the Department of Education (DepEd) last year asking her that traffic education be included in the school curriculum.

Tumulak said schools like City Central, Pardo, Mambaling, Labangon, Guadalupe, Mabolo, Lahug and others near busy roads should teach traffic rules to their students since their areas are more prone to accidents.