MMDA's sidewalk clearing plan gets support

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications, other key government agencies, and road transport stakeholders will sign a resolution supporting the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and local government units to clear sidewalks of obstructions.

During the two-day Road Safety Forum, the participants will sign resolution no. 2, which expresses the group’s strong support for the MMDA's implementation of resolution No. 02-28, authorizing MMDA and LGUs to clear the sidewalks, streets, avenues, alleys, bridges, parks, and other public places in Metro Manila of all illegal structures and obstructions.

“It will look at the gaps in advancing pedestrian safety, with the end view of coming up with concrete, doable actions to instill safety consciousness among pedestrians and motorists,” DOTC Assistant Secretary Dante Lantin said in his keynote speech on Wednesday at the Heritage Hotel Manila.

Participants will also sign resolution no.1, which encourages President Benigno Aquino III to issue a proclamation declaring May 6 to 12, 2013 as the Road Safety Week in the Philippines, in observance of the Second United Nation Global Road Safety Week.

The goal of the participants is to reduce fatalities due to road crashes in the country by 50 percent.

Statistics show that pedestrians constitute around a quarter of 1.3 million annual global road deaths, many of whom are children and older people, most from the low and middle income countries.

The Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group Traffic Accidents Report for 2000-2011 shows that, on the average, 11 percent of the people involved in road crashes are pedestrians.

In Metro Manila, pedestrians killed on the road grew by 6.5 percent in 2011 from 2010.

In 2011, pedestrians composed 46 percent of those killed and 27 percent injured.

Participants of the forum included representatives from the DOTC, MMDA, Department of Interior and Local Government, Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Health, the Road Board, National Youth Commission, National Center for Transportation Studies, local government units (LGUs), Philippine College of Surgeons, Automobile Association of the Philippines, Firefly Brigade, and the Philippine Global Road Safety Partnership.