CAMARINES SUR, Philippines – To have responsible road users, road safety education should be done at an early age.

In a road safety forum in Naga City, Land Transportation Office (LTO) Region V Director Noreen San Luis-Lutey said on Wednesday, January 24, that violators of traffic laws are younger people and one way to approach the problem is through education.

“Pabata ng pabata ang mga nahuhuli (Violators are getting younger and younger). They don’t even know what they are violating,” Lutey said.

“I believe that road safety education will have more impact and will address the issue if it’s integrated in the curriculum of the Department of Education (DepEd) and cascaded on a national level,” she added in a mix of English and Filipino.

In the Bicol region, LTO, in partnership with the region’s DepEd, piloted the “Students Today, Road Users Tomorrow” program in November 2017. Lutey said the program includes 14 modules on road laws and general safety tips that will be taught to elementary students in the region.

“We urge the DepEd Central Office to include this in the elementary curriculum so that the modules we have will not only be implemented in the Bicol region. Come June, hopefully all regions implement it,” she said.

Why elementary?

Currently, Lutey said they are in talks with the DepEd Central Office to adopt this measure across the country.

In the Senate, Senator Grace Poe filed Senate Bill Number 1231 that seeks to add road safety education for students in junior and senior high school.

Lutey argued, however, that educating at an early age is crucial to develop the “kind of attitude” that a road user should have. She said the intervention should be done during formative years.

“You can easily learn knowledge and skills but you cannot build a proper attitude overnight that’s why we need to start in the elementary level,” she said.

Road safety month

The region’s LTO director also pointed out that the commemoration of the road safety month is not “drilled” down into the students consciousness because it is celebrated every May.

“Under the Executive Order, we don’t have classes every May that’s why kids are not aware of it. They are not in school,” Lutey said.

She raised that the road safety month should be moved to a different month so that it can be celebrated in schools. “Maybe we can move it to June or July so that schools can prepare activities around it,” she said.

In 2015, the Philippine Statistics Authority recorded a total of 10,012 deaths from traffic crash incidents. Of these, 621 of occured in the Bicol Region. 

According to the Philippine National Police, Naga City has the highest number of road crash incidents in the region, with a total of 4,743 recorded incidents from 2015 to July 2017.

In the Philippines, latest government data show, 8,666 people died from road injuries in 2014. (READ: IN NUMBERS: Road crashes in the Philippines) – Rappler.com