THE Transportation department said it will create a road safety management office which will undertake initiatives such as roadworthiness vehicle testing and raising the standards for issuing drivers’ licenses.
“We will be issuing a department order creating the road safety project management office,” Transportation Secretary Jaime J. Bautista said during a consultation session organized by Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. last week.
He said the Department of Transportation has committed to the United Nations’ decade of action for road safety, which calls for improved road safety management, safer roads, safer vehicles, safer road users, and improved trauma care and rehabilitation.
The department is studying recommendations from Southeast Asian neighbors to address issues and gaps in road safety policy.
“We are updating the five-year Philippine road safety action plan. This will address issues and concerns in the implementation of road safety initiatives, and strengthen further road safety actions to achieve the goal of reducing road traffic fatalities and injuries,” Mr. Bautista added.
He said the goal is “zero deaths on the road.”
One of the focal points of a draft program, he said, is to reduce the number of child victims who are injured while traveling to and from school. — Arjay L. Balinbin