MANILA, Aug. 17 (PNA) – The Philippine National Police (PNP)–Highway Patrol Group (HPG) reported on Monday that 567 persons died and 5,220 others were injured in 11,285 traffic accidents nationwide in the first six months of the year.
In a press briefing held at the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City, PNP-HPG spokesperson Supt. Oliver Tanseco said the number of road accidents in the country is going up every year due to “human errors and lack of road discipline” such as overspeeding, drunk driving, use of cellular phone while driving, bad overtaking, bad turning, mechanical defects and poor maintenance of vehicles.
The PNP-HPG data also showed that there were 15,572 road accidents nationwide for the whole of 2014, with 1,252 persons killed and 9,347 others injured.
Tanseco said the PNP-HPG expects road accidents to be higher during the so-called “Ber” months of September, October, November and December when a greater number of people are going to the malls or out-of-town vacations, especially during the Christmas season.
Of the 11,285 road accidents recorded from January to June 2015, a total of 6,791 mishaps occurred during daytime and 4,494 during the night.
A total of 3,884 accidents took place on national roads, 1,576 on the expressways, 2,806 on city roads, 1,557 on village roads, 568 on municipal roads, 735 on provincial roads, and 154 on the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR).
Of the 15,292 motor vehicles involved in the 11,285 accidents for the 2015 first half, the most common types comprised of 6,157 cars/automobile, followed by motorcycles with 4,229; tricycles, 1,629; trucks, 1,551; jeeps, 1,154; buses, 494; and other types of vehicles, 78. (PNA)