A senator is proposing to include road safety and comprehensive drivers’ education for all elementary and high school students following reports that a lot of people have little or no knowledge of basic road safety and traffic rules regulations.
In a report by The STAR, Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. has filed Senate Bill No. 451, seeking to integrate basic road safety and comprehensive drivers’ education in the K-12 program.
“It is alarming that a lot of adults today have little or no knowledge of basic road safety and traffic rules and regulations. Studies show that many road accidents and mishaps resulted from ignorance or false understanding of traffic rules and regulations,” he said.
Under the proposed bill, a basic road safety curriculum will be developed by the Department of Education in coordination with the Department of Transportation, University of the Philippines-National Center for Transportation Studies and road safety advocates. It will then be integrated in the curriculum of all educational institutions both private and public, beginning from elementary up to senior high school.
The curriculum will include rights and responsibilities of pedestrians and commuters in the use of all types of road transportation, road awareness, road signage and responsible commuting, driving rules and regulations, driving courtesy, driving safety, road hazards and vehicle of safety features.
According to a 2019 report by the Philippine Statistics Authority, road accidents are the top cause of death among teenagers aged 15 to 19 from 2012 to 2017 and the second leading cause of death from 2007 to 2011 among teens of the same age group.
In the same report, it also revealed that road accidents are also the number-one cause of death among young adults aged 20 to 24 from 2013 to 2017 and the second leading cause among adults of the same age group from 2006 to 2012.
The report bared a 107.54 percent increase in deaths from road accidents among teens aged 15 to 19 from 504 deaths in 2006 to 1,046 deaths in 2017 and an 88.32 percent increase among young adults aged 20 to 24 from 839 deaths in 2006 to 1,580 deaths in 2017.
From 2006 to 2017, 8,886 teens aged 15 to 19 were killed from road accidents while 13,509 young adults aged 20 to 24 died from the same cause from 2006 to 2017. – Cecille Suerte Felipe
