Stop, look and listen

That is the familiar safety reminder for pedestrians crossing a street. Before stepping off the sidewalk to get to the other side, pedestrians must first stop and look left and right, or listen for any oncoming vehicle. When the coast is clear, that is the time to cross.

Despite the cautiousness, pedestrians still get killed by reckless motorists. Global statistics on road accident deaths are compiled by the World Health Organization (WHO) while Philippines data are tallied by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the Department of Health (DoH)and the Department of Transportation.

Worldwide, there are 1.2 million road crash deaths per year, including 11,000 to 13,000 in the Philippines, in the past 10 years.

DoH reported approximately 12,000 Filipinos die in road accidents each year while 57,000 were injured in the past decade.

In 2021, the WHO estimates there were approximately 274,000 pedestrian deaths globally or 15 deaths per 100,000 population. In the Philippines the figure is somewhere in the 9.7 to 12.3 per 100,000 range. The figure increased to 13,101 deaths in 2023, as reported by the PSA.

The Metro Manila Accident Reporting and Analysis System of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority reported about 58,000 road crashes in 2022, and approximately 86,000 crashes in 2023.

Based on those statistics, worldwide road crash death cases is decreasing while the opposite is happening in the Philippines.

Perhaps the number could be reversed if pedestrians would stop, look and listen before crossing roads.