Reckless driving, and not for any other reason, remains to be the chief cause of most road accidents in Davao City, according to Supt. Ernesto Castillo, chief of the Davao City police office’ traffic group.
Castillo told the AFP-PNP press conference on Wednesday that reckless or careless driving by motorists has been the number one culprit behind road accidents, citing a total of 4,225 road accidents over the past several months.
Breaking the figure down, he said most accidents are committed by owners of private vehicles, followed by motorcycles, with the rest attributed to taxi drivers.
Castillo’s revelation appears to confirm general observation in the Davao region that while most vehicles are road worthy, reckless driving (oftentimes described as human error) is to blame for a spate of road accidents involving passengers vans that have led to unnecessary loss of lives and properties.
Overall however, traffic Incidents for the first half of the year decreased by 44.15 percent to 4325 from January until June this year compared to 7,744 from the same period this year.
Castillo said his office data showed a significant reduction of 3,419 or to equivalent to 44.15 percent in the road incidents city wide.
He attributed this to the stringent implementation of traffic laws by the traffic officers.
In 2017, the figure included a total of 307 minor injuries and 70 serious injuries.
The data also recorded 31 fatalities and a total of 1840 damage to properties with a total of 2, 231 overall injured persons.
With the implementation of both Republic Act 4136 or the Land Transportation and Traffic code and RA 109113 or the anti- distracted driving act, the TG recorded a total of seven persons apprehended for using mobile phones while onboard their vehicles.
Along with ADDA, they also implemented RA1066 or the Children’s Safety on Motorcycles Act of 2015 with traffic officers apprehending 11 violators.
Castillo said that the low number of apprehensions was due to the increase of awareness of motorist in Davao City.
