Improving road safety one lane at a time

The bus was rolling steadily along in the middle lane of Commonwealth Avenue with no indication there was anything wrong. But the next minute, it was in the leftmost lane, cutting across the inner lanes while slamming into several cars.

A dashcam caught the whole incident, following the bus as it went on its rampage. The dashcam eventually espied the bus inside the construction area of the Metro Railway Transit (MRT-7), which is protected by concrete barriers.

The crash ended the vehicular drama, and what was the cost? Nine vehicles were damaged, excluding five motorcycles. Thankfully, there were no casualties.

The dashcam recorded only one of many road-based transportation-related snafus highlighted in social media and used as evidence by the Land Transportation Office (LTO) under the auspices of the Department of Transportation (DoTr) in its ongoing campaign to bring about changes in road safety.

Ever see the one with minors racing motorcycles in Bulacan? Or content creators pulling reckless stunts? And road rage incidents that are a surefire way of going viral? Apart from smartphone and dash cameras, helmet-mounted and 360-degree cameras on motorcycles record the behavior of drivers and pedestrians outside the No Contact Apprehension Policy (NCAP) zones.

The visual documentation of these incidents can only go so far since behavior, particularly the habitual kind, are difficult to eliminate. Ironically, even though Filipinos are known for their bayanihan culture where they help each other, there seem to be no constraints to harming one another in a myopic setting, such as in traffic.

To encourage healthier behavior, the LTO has been implementing punitive measures. There have been a fair amount of suspensions and revocation of licenses along with the imposition of fines. Whether these measures are sufficient to convince vehicle owners and operators to follow road rules better, only time will tell.

Like any picture or video, our view of policy also requires context. Focusing solely on these videos can result in an underappreciation of the gravity of the challenges the DoTr faces. Changing behavior is only part of the equation, as road users are affected by the condition and amount of road capacity and the volume (of users and their vehicles).

The DoTr has a tough job ahead of it. In the final scene of the 1980s classic, “Back to the Future,” Doctor Emmet Brown says, “Roads? Where we are going, we don’t need roads.” While that sounded really cool back then, the reality is that we still do need roads. A lot of them.

More importantly, we need to connect them to airports and bus terminals, which connect to sea and air lanes. This involves not only managing transportation but also building and enhancing the physical network that connects the economy at the local, regional, and global levels.

This week, I had a chance to meet with some members of the planning team that Secretary Vince Dizon has formed at the DoTr, and I am filled with optimism.

The team is very young and reminds me of the team that Dr. Karl Chua assembled at the Department of Finance (DoF) during the time of Secretary Sonny Dominguez which introduced advanced methods in economic modeling that helped shape fiscal and economic policy.

This is a good start because having young blood brainstorm policy initiatives introduces a fresh perspective on old problems.

A main takeaway from my meeting is that our master plan needs an overhaul. Many things have changed and are changing.

With respect to roads, two-wheel vehicles account for 50 percent of the 120 vehicles per 1,000 of our population.

Electric vehicles, which have a shorter range, may also drive the level of motorization in the near future. The DoTr team’s confidence in taking on this challenge appears to be very high.

Ultimately, the solutions that are going to be put forth by the DoTr will be benchmarked against targets that will come from the master plan. One target is in the area of road safety, which aims to reduce the number of road accidents by 35 percent by 2030.

Looking at some of the data collected by the LTO and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), this may be doable.

The number of road crashes in the first five months of 2025 declined 20.2 percent to 22,773 from the same period in 2024.

The LTO revoked 420 licenses in the first half of 2025 which, if annualized, is approximately 840 licenses or 14.6 percent less than the 984 licenses revoked in 2024.

These are just estimates, of course, since the data can be updated and the peak accident months appear to be in the second half of the year. Nevertheless, the campaign appears to be working based on these estimates. Good job, DoTr and LTO.

These small wins are important because they are what investors are looking for. When investors see the government achieving set and promised targets, regardless of the administration, this drives optimism that policy and action are integrated, and we are driving a well-maintained bus that safely reaches its destination on schedule every single time.