Part Two
SIX years ago the government implemented the Philippine Road Safety Action Plan (PRSAP) with a view to slash road- crash deaths by 50 percent through 2020. The blueprint has five pillars, the first being improvement of road-safety management. The second pillar calls for safer roads.
The second pillar entails the provision of funds for initial black spots program in all national and local road agencies. This pillar also eyes the development of strategies and guidelines for the improvement of hazardous locations, the revision of road-safety design standards, the adoption of road-design standards, and the integration of bicycle and motorcycle lanes in the design of new roads.
While the second pillar focuses on the infrastructure side of road safety, the third pillar calls for the use of safer vehicles. This requires the transportation department to implement a motor vehicle-inspection system nationwide and to conduct random safety audit of public utility vehicles.
It also calls for the implementation of a national vehicle maintenance program and standards, a dialogue with manufacturers to issue safety vehicle certifications and the use of fiscal and other incentives for motor vehicles that provide high level of protection.
Fourth pillar
THE fourth pillar aims to educate users on how to be safe on roads. It calls for the creation of public fora on road safety, especially for vulnerable users.
It also aims to revise the license-issuance system through mandatory road-safety training for new and professional drivers, and to develop training modules and facilities, including driving simulator for two or more wheeled vehicles in each region.
Another goal of the fourth pillar is to clear sidewalks of obstruction, to require the use of seatbelt, helmet, and other safety devices and the implementation of assistance programs.
The last pillar involves the provision of improved trauma care and rehab. It aims to provide emergency assistance to road-crash victims, and provide training to trauma centers and hospital personnel.
But these pillars are slowly tumbling down, and the government is now on the move to patch things up.
Cement updates
TRANSPORTATION Assistant Secretary Mark Richmund M. de Leon told the BusinessMirror the first five pillars were a little bit outdated, given the advancements in tech, policies and trends.
“There were identified gaps on the plan,” de Leon said. “It has to be updated and to be responsive to the needs of the time.” The government plans to release a new road-safety action plan in June. The new policies will still have the goal of reducing deaths by 50 percent from now until 2022.
“We want the plan to be more strategic to really address specific issues,” de Leon said. “The PRSAP for 2017-2022 is currently being drafted in consultation to [sic] stakeholders.”
The gaps, he said, include the updating of policies, and the inclusion of new technology in addressing road-safety issues in the Philippines.
“For example, it needs updating on policies, such as the Omnibus Franchising Guidelines [OFG], which was not previously discussed in the old plan,” the government official said.
The said guidelines, which spell out the rules for issuing public-transportation franchises, will require public-transport franchises to be in accordance with local public-transport plans instead of the current situation where public-transport franchises are dependent on route proposals of operators.
Franchising guidelines
ACCORDING to de Leon, the Department of Transportation will release the OFG within the month.
The set of guidelines, he explained, aims to improve the state of the country’s road-based public-transport systems. “Through the guidelines, routes will be efficiently planned, and the franchising process will be improved,” de Leon said. He added routes along arterial roads, such as highways and expressways and where there is high passenger-demand, will be converted into high-capacity modes, such as buses for efficiency and safety purposes.
Tricycles and habal-habal (makeshift motorized three-wheel vehicles) would no longer be allowed along national roads. “It also aims to improve public-transport vehicle standards and specifications,” de Leon said.
Under the draft guidelines, all public-transport vehicles will be converted into Euro 4-emission standard engines. They will also be required to be equipped with speed limiters, GPS, dash cam and closed-circuit television, to ensure safety and security of the commuters.
“The door of the jeepney will be transferred to the right or curb side, which is safer than the current design where jeepney doors are at the back making it difficult for the driver to see loading and unloading passengers,” de Leon said.
IT solutions
CONCURRENT with the updating of the road-safety blueprint, the government is also tapping technology in order to improve the management of the roads in the country.
The department recently launched a road data platform called “Drivers”, a Web-based crash national reporting database that allows the agency and users to analyze spatial clustering of crashes using different thematic maps.
It can also disaggregate data by casualty and vehicle type.
“Through this tool, the department aims to provide planners and engineers a decision-making tool, as this can provide evidence based analysis of road crashes, and will help planners to do more strategic road-safety interventions,” de Leon said. “Right now, we are talking with the Philippine National Police Highway Patrol Group and local government units so that they can populate the Drivers system with road-crash data that they collect.”
Furthermore, the transportation department is also planning to have modern intelligent transport systems that will improve road safety.
“This will entail the installation of intelligent traffic signals, intelligent bus dispatch and monitoring systems, among others, which is focused on making the vehicles using the roads more efficiently managed,” he added.
These intelligent bus dispatch and monitoring systems form part of the planned bus rapid transit (BRT) system in major roads in Cebu and Metro Manila. De Leon said the government is in the process of preparing the engineering designs for the two BRTs.
“The BRT system will transform the roads into a better, reliable, safer public transport system, as this will provide dedicated right of way for BRT buses that are managed and monitored by intelligent bus dispatching and scheduling systems,” he said. To be concluded
Image credits: Nonoy Lacza