Thursday, February 08, 2007
Quezon City is most accident-prone area in metro: agency
THE Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) revealed that Quezon City remains the most dangerous place in Metro Manila as far as traffic accidents are concerned.
Records provided by the agency's Accident Reporting and Analysis System showed that Quezon City had a 28.37 percentage share of the total number of traffic accidents in the metropolis with 17,292 recorded road mishaps.
From January to December last year, the agency said there were 123 fatal accidents in Quezon City and 3,209 non-fatal accidents with 13,960 properties damaged.
Makati City, the country's financial and business center, is second with 11.97 percentage share or 7,298 recorded traffic accidents.
MMDA chairman Bayani Fernando said the huge number of road accidents in Quezon and Makati cities could be attributed to the fact that both cities are prime business areas with high social and economic activity and consequently a large numbers of vehicles and pedestrians.
"Quezon City has the biggest land area among the 17 cities and municipalities in Metro Manila," the report said as it called the two cities as "black spots" or "accident prone areas."
Major thoroughfares traverse the two cities like Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (Edsa), Commonwealth and C5 Road, the report added.
On the other hand, Navotas and Pateros are the safest places in the metropolis as both get the least number of traffic accidents, the report said.
Pateros only had .21 percentage share or 130 accidents in 2006 while Navotas recorded a .46 percentage or about 282 accidents last year.
The MMDA attributed the small number of road accidents in the two areas to the following factors: its small land area, no major arterial road passes through it, the places are not considered as prime business districts; and both have manageable traffic direction and control.
Other "black spots" in the metropolis are Rizal Avenue corner 7th Avenue in Caloocan City, C3 Road corner North Bay Boulevard in Navotas, E. Rodriguez Avenue corner Aquilina in Marikina City, Shaw Boulevard corner Nueve De Pebrero in Mandaluyong City, Rodriguez Lanuza corner Julia Vargas Avenue in Pasig City, Ortigas Avenue corner Wilson in San Juan and President Osmeña corner San Andres in Manila.
Last year, Fernando said they recorded 60,939 traffic accidents in the metropolis. To address the problem he said they are concentrating on the installation of safety and traffic signages and pedestrian facilities such as foot bridges in major choke points in Metro Manila.
The agency said there is a need for 99 foot bridges with more than half of them already installed or are already being constructed.
The agency has also intensified sidewalk clearing operations and is doing major upgrades of roadways in the metropolis such as the 24-kilometer-long Edsa, which is the prime artery of Metro Manila, C5 Road, Commonwealth Avenue, McArthur Highway, R10 in Tondo, Manila and Marcos Highway in Antipolo City.
Fernando said the upgrade program has a funding of P1 billion with P200 million allotted alone for Edsa.
Aside from these, he said they are also conducting an information drive among metro residents to educate them on road safety. (AH/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Iloilo. (February 8, 2007 issue)
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