To better ensure the safety of students and teachers from unnecessary harm from vehicles, Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda has filed a bill in Congress mandating the construction of overpasses near public and private schools along national roads, especially along the main route of the Pan-Philippine Highway.
Salceda said schoolchildren, most specially, are exposed to the risk of accidents and tend to complicate traffic when rushing to and from their classes, particularly during times when main routes near their schools become busier.
The lawmaker said his House Bill 9167, titled “Mandatory Overpass Act of 2019,” aims to promote safety
to pedestrians, especially the most vulnerable road users—the children—and at the same time ease traffic in strategic and major roads.
Citing reports from the World Health Organization, Salceda noted that more than 270,000 pedestrians die on roads each year, which account for 22 percent of the 1.24-million road traffic deaths.
“This indicates that pedestrians are the most vulnerable road users,” he added. Statistics also show that children make up a high proportion of pedestrian deaths and injuries, Salceda said.
He pointed out that because children are smaller, less visible and are often unpredictable, they are more vulnerable than other road users, to vehicular accidents.
Salceda said drivers must, therefore, exercise “an extraordinary degree of care” in school zones, which are doubly dangerous to children when these schools are located along national highways.
“Constructing overpasses along national roads near schools where students cross when going to and coming from their classes is an engineering intervention that would enhance their safety,” he emphasized.
HB 9167 “will not only save lives but also create the conditions needed to make walking safe. When roads are safe, people will walk more, and this, in turn, will improve health and protect the environment,” he said.
The proposal assigns the Department of Public Works and Highways as the lead agency with the cooperation and assistance from the Department of Education, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and Commission on Higher Education, to formulate the guidelines, identify the areas, and provide the timetable in implementing the program.