MMDA To Impose Road Safety Lessons for School Students

MANILA: With an increase in the road accident cases in past one year, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is taking major steps to educate people more about road safety. MMDA is organizing various camps to educate the public about the traffic rules and guess it's working out. In past three months, there have been less road accidents and speeding cases registered with the authority which indeed is a great sigh of relief. To make this movement more effective, MMDA is now thinking of making it a part of school curriculum so that the children may start learning about road safety from an early age and make it a habit to drive safe. Toyota and Volkswagen have also taken such initiatives and organized camps to educate school kids about road safety recently.

According to an authority from MMDA, we all learn the basic traffic rules during early schooling but with time nobody cares to follow them which is resulting in this massive death tolls due to road accidents. It is high time to revise those traffic rules so that we may stay safe on the road. Adding road safety lessons compulsorily in the school curriculum would help the student to understand the basics and also the consequences of not following them.

It is notable that these alarming road accident numbers are not just restricted to Manila but it is a common problem which has spread throughout the country. MMDA is starting this pilot project of educating students from the capital but soon they plan to initiate it in other cities also. This movement is not just for the future motorists but also for every pedestrian who has to pay with his/her life just because of a negligence which could have been avoided with some caution and some education.

In this regards, the MMDA Chairman – Mr. Emerson Carlos has mentioned that road accidents are the number 1 killer in the Philippines and so we have to take this step as a priority. He further cited that there have been attempts earlier also to create road safety modules jointly by private and government organizations. Probably the efforts were not serious enough that time but this time MMDA is pretty serious about the issue and want to address it in a planned manner. For this, children between the age of 14 and 16 have been found suitable to provide with this new curriculum. The organization is also in talks with various educational bodies to regulate the schools authorized by them and regulate to make the newly designed road safety compulsory.

On one hand the MMDA is emphasizing on the education of the students to learn the road safety lessons by heart and on the other hand, the newly elected president of the Philippines – Duterte is also making serious efforts in this regard. If the statements released on behalf of Duterte are to be taken seriously, a monetary penalty of PhP 20,000 to PhP 500,000 can be imposed on the drivers found drunk and driving in the EDSA. Also, a strict regulation of restricting the speed limit to 60 kmph is also under the talks which might imply practically once Duterte takes the chair officially. Indeed a good initiative by MMDA!

Also Read: Run Your Volkswagen the Way its Supposed to Run with Volkswagen Philippines Free Safety Check Up