“Mission: Road Safety” institutionalizes road safety awareness seminars and digital information campaigns to educate the general and motoring public, ensuring their safe journey along MPTC expressways in Luzon and Visayas— NLEX, SCTEX, NLEX Connector, CALAX, CAVITEX, CAVITEX C5 Link, and CCLEX (Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway).
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) cited that an average of 345 daily fatalities is caused by transport accidents in the Philippines.
“Road safety is at the core of Metro Pacific Tollways’ business. We have advanced protocols in place to avoid untoward incidents, we have responsive on-ground and 24/7 hotline personnel to ensure that our motorists are well attended to, expressways that are built for safety, and employees who have passion for innovation to explore more ways to better serve our stakeholders,” MPTC President and CEO Rodrigo Franco explained how safety remains the top tier in the list of priorities of the group.
Empowered motorists and commuting public
MPTC units NLEX Corp and Metro Pacific Tollways South (MPT South) have already established their efforts in the road safety awareness scene, through respective flagship programs Biyahero Road Safety Caravan and Drayberks Drive Road Safety Seminars. These programs intensified education on proper expressway driving, traffic rules and regulations, importance of vehicle road worthiness, and preparation of the driver (self) and their passengers.
Cebu Cordova Link Expressway Corporation (CCLEC)’s advocacy program dubbed Istorya Ta Bai! cultivates safe driving habits and orients motorists on key safety features of Cebu’s iconic toll bridge CCLEX.
‘Per stakeholder’ approach
To further strengthen its efforts, business units target various stakeholders that they can tap to amplify MPTC’s safety mission.
NLEX Usapang Driver is a forum aimed at educating drivers from bus and trucking companies on safe expressway driving. To date, over seven bus and 13 trucking companies have participated in this program. The unit also has Kaligtasan sa Daan (KalSaDa) road safety education program targeted for its community partners and neighboring barangays.
Last November 2022, NLEX and Paramount Consumer Products launched the ‘Nickelodeon Safety First with PAW Patrol’ campaign showcasing messages of safety for children. The safety messages can be seen on toll plaza banners and billboards along NLEX’s extensive road network until June 2023.
MPT South’s Bayani ng Kalsada (BayaniKa) is a program that teaches kids about road signs and familiarize them with road safety measures, particularly on expressways. Since its inception in 2022, over 800 school children from host communities have benefitted from it.
Safety is practiced year round
During peak travel seasons and holidays, MPTC units from North to South intensify their operations under the ‘Safe Trip Mo Sagot Ko’ initiative. In anticipation of increased traffic volume, over 1,200 patrol crews, traffic marshals, and security teams are deployed to ensure effective traffic management along its expressways. Emergency medical services and incident response teams are also fielded at strategic areas.
Safe road for all
These efforts are all in line with the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution
“Improving global road safety” with the ambitious target of preventing at least 50% of road traffic deaths and injuries by 2030.
MPTC echoes UN’s thrust in its corporate Sustainability Strategic Goals by continuously improving its services and providing top notch customer experience to its stakeholders. Aside from its tollways, MPTC created the MPT DriveHub app that brings expressway services to the hands of the customer to bring about a more satisfactory travel experience. The MPT DriveHub app allows easy reloading of RFID accounts, has real-time traffic updates of its seven expressways, and allows users to call for 24/7 emergency roadside assistance.
