Recent data gathered from the police tell us that traffic accidents kill at least one person per day. From January 2014 until October 2017, there were 843 deaths due to traffic accidents, accounting for 1.2 deaths per day on the average.
This is alarming, to say the least, and the police chief of Negros Oriental, Sr. Supt. Edwin Portento, thinks so, too.
The traffic-related deaths are even higher than killings which are perceived to be extra-judicial killings, which the Philippine National Police national office unbelievably pegged at only one incident in the entire country.
If you’ve been driving long enough in Dumaguete, of course, this statistic will come as no surprise. We’re sure you’ve seen the wild driving habits of many drivers in Negros Oriental. Many drivers think they should go ahead of everyone else and that of all the traffic rules apply to everyone else but them.
Portento attributed the accidents to lack of road courtesy and discipline and to a total disregard to traffic rules and regulations.
In this situation, everyone should share in the blame. People get (or worse, are able to buy) licenses without understanding the rules of the road, they wantonly violate traffic rules and there is no one around to arrest them when they do.
And the government also allows all the illegal vehicles on the highways, such as trisikads, tricycles and even carabao-drawn carts, forcing vehicles to cross solid white or yellow lines, or even double yellow lines, just to get around them.
Clearly, we have a long way to go in enforcing discipline in our roads and we can only hope we would see disciplined drivers in Negros Oriental in our lifetime. But we can start improving our own driving today by observing one rule of thumb – “First, do no harm.”
The rest may come naturally.
