”Human factor” main cause of road accidents: HPG

October 30, 2019

The Philippine National Police Highway Patrol Group on Wednesday said “human factor” is the common cause of road accidents.

“Based on data, most of the accidents are because of human factor. So a big percentage of that is wrong ways of the motorist,” HPG acting director Brigadier General Dionardo Carlos said in a press briefing.

Carlos said human factor is common because of the “wrong decision” of the driver on whether to turn left, right or overtake.

According to HPG records, for January to September 2019, a total of 8,775 out of the 9,663 accidents were caused by human factor such as bad overtaking, bad turning, speeding, self-incident, drunk driving, using cellphone, hit-and-run; and overloading.

Second were mechanical defects (389) and road condition (240).

Most of vehicles involved in road crashes were cars and motorcycles followed by trucks, jeep and buses. The incidents were mostly at national roads.

The number of fatalities recorded from January to September were 1,186 while non-fatalities were 8,376. Damage to properties was at 11,616.

For 2018, HPG recorded 11,179 road crash incidents lower than 2017 (27,481) and 2016 (32, 259).

The HPG chief said they have partner advocates which help them in conducting seminars on proper driving and safety.

“Our effort really is to give this kind of education or reminders… what we can see is a small percentage of motorist who violate traffic law so we will focus more on education for motorist and drivers,” said Carlos.

“Hopefully, if we reduce these mistakes, the riders, drivers, (and) passengers will be safe on the road,” he said. Ella Dionisio/DMS