(This story was produced under the Bloomberg Initiative Global Road Safety Media Fellowship implemented by the World Health Organization, Department of Transportation and VERA Files.)
THERE have been close to 10,000 accidents in the province of Benguet since 2014.
Benguet police records show 8,204 vehicular traffic accidents recorded which have led to the loss of life, damage to property and injuries commonly along the Halsema Highway, a crucial network, connecting the entire Mountain Province to Baguio City and Benguet.
But Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Benguet District Engineer Romelda Bangasan has debunked the myth Halsema is the one of the world’s most dangerous.
Bangasan said she traverses the highway daily, stressing driver safety will be a factor in any area regardless of road condition.
“For the past three years, I have been traversing Halsema Highway, going to work in the morning and going home in the afternoon. It’s only a perception that Halsema [highway] is dangerous,” Bangasan said.
Sadly, the main cause of accidents have been pinpointed to human error with 7,333 followed by mechanical defects with 556 and the least cause is road conditions with 315.
For this year, statistics from January to October show there are 1198 accidents with La Trinidad, town capital of the province with the highest at 679 cases followed by the municipalities of Tuba with 248, Sablan with 63, Buguias with 56, Atok with 55, Tublay with 29, Itogon with 23, Mankayan with 15, Bokod, Kabayan and Kabayan with five each while Bakun has two incidents recorded.
Bangasan said road safety will be primary in traversing Halsema highway because of its blind curves adding “drivers courtesy is important in any road.”
The lady engineer handles the Benguet second district spanning 137 kilometers covering the stretch of the Halsema Highway also stresses a compliance to speed limits set in the highway with a 30 kph set for curved portions and 40 to 50 kph at other sections of the highway.
“If you go faster than 40 kph, you will crash into a ravine... aside from this, their vehicles must also be in top condition,” added Bangasan.
Bangasan said speed limit signages have been set at the tollway in Tublay for motorists to be reminded of recommended speed to take while traversing the highway.
The DPWH also points to quality of vehicles allowed to traverse roads saying some have gone above their road lifespan but continues to ferry passengers.
In 2017, Benguet recorded 1,803 road crashes, a bit lower than the 2016 records that count 1822 in total, comparing to records from 2015 and 2014 with 1,719 and 1662 respectively.
The Department of Health reports road and car accidents has been listed in the top five leading causes of death in the country while health officials that time feared that road accidents could become the leading cause of death in the country by 2020.
This month, the World Health Organization (WHO) marked on November 18 the World Day of Remembrance (WDR) for Road Traffic Victims themed “Roads have Stories”.