Senator wants road safety taught in elementary
By Azer N. Parrocha
A senator, realizing the prevalence of deaths caused by road accidents, filed a measure on Thursday seeking to teach basic road safety in elementary education.
Under Senate Bill No. 1231 or the proposed Road Safety and Comprehensive Driver’s Education Act, Senator Grace Poe wants the school curriculum to integrate basic road safety and basic driver’s education.
Poe, chair of the Senate Committee on Public Services, said that the measure is meant to effectively reduce road casualties, especially among children.
“While they are young, students can learn basic road safety and driver’s education,” she said.
The measure wants road safety as part of the elementary curriculum.
Meanwhile, comprehensive driver’s education can be taught as part of the junior and senior high school and higher education curricula.
Once enacted, the measure will direct the Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education, Department of Transportation, Land Transportation Office, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority to formulate and implement a basic road safety and comprehensive driver’s education subject for students in basic and higher education.
Poe expressed hope that teaching road safety and driver’s education at an early stage could help alleviate traffic and courtesy among future drivers.
Citing various studies, she said road accidents were the fourth leading cause of mortality in 2012 and the fifth highest cause of mortality from 2008 to 2013, accounting for 36,100 deaths for every 100,000 population.
She said lack of critical interventions could make road accidents the leading cause of deaths in the country by 2020, even surpassing diseases of the heart and vascular system and pneumonia. (PNA)
