Motorcycles top in traffic accidents
More than 50 percent of the traffic accidents last year involved motorcycles.
In a report obtained from Regional Operations and Plans Division (ROPD) of the Police Regional Office (PRO) 6, 151 of 285 recorded traffic accidents from January to December, 2008 involved motorcycles. The record is 27 incidents higher than the 2006 reports.
Iloilo Province tops the list of motor traffic accidents with 35, Aklan and Capiz with 29 each, Negros Occidental - 25, Antique - 14, Bacolod City - 5 and Iloilo City - 3.
The report also disclosed 124 fatalities and 403 injuries resulted from various traffic accidents regionwide.
Other traffic accidents involved 17 passenger buses, 8 container vans, 55 private cars, 44 trucks, 23 passenger jeepneys, and 15 other modes of transportation.
With this, the PRO6 relentlessly pursues its campaign in making the highways safer to motorists by implementing the “No Plate, No Travel” policy and “No Helmet” policy.
In the 2008 accomplishment report of Highway Patrol Group 6, it was disclosed that 517 vehicles were apprehended for not having licensed plates, 712 motorcycles without licensed plates, and, 72 for unauthorized plates.
PRO6 Director, Police Chief Superintendent Isagani R. Cuevas, asks motorists, especially those driving motorcycles to wear helmet at all times to avoid fatalities in case of accidents.
“The “No Helmet, No Travel” policy is intended for the safety of motorcycle drivers and the riders,” the top cop explained.
Also, Cuevas encourages the public to report to authorities the presence of motorcycles and other vehicles without license plates, for these vehicles may be used by criminal elements.
“The policy does not exempt government vehicles,” he added. (POIII F.B. Lindero Jr)