Home » Policy
Category Archives: Policy
On reducing deaths due to road crashes
Following is a link to an article on the increase in road crash-related deaths in Singapore. The city state prides itself as one of the safest places in terms of transportation yet road crash deaths recently hit a 10-year high.
From the article:
“Cellphone-related driving violations surged 39.1% to 4,193 cases, the report showed. Motorcyclists, who make up just 15% of Singapore’s vehicle population, accounted for 54.8% of all traffic accidents and 53% of fatalities.
Speeding violations jumped 25.9% to 253,550 cases, equivalent to roughly 695 motorists caught daily. While speeding-related fatal accidents dipped from 46 to 41, red-light running accidents surged 27.1% to 122, resulting in seven deaths. Drink-driving accidents fell from 166 to 156, but the number of fatal drink-driving accidents held steady at 12 in both years…
…”Road safety requires a culture of mutual respect and graciousness among all road users,” the police force said. “Simple acts of courtesy, such as maintaining a safe following distance of at least three seconds, giving way to pedestrians, reducing speed near junctions and being patient during peak hours, can create a better road culture.” “
What can we learn from Singapore’s experience? Are we capable and equipped to improve road safety in the Philippines? Can we be more courteous, respectful and gracious in the way we drive or behave as road users?
–
On the dangers of drowsy driving
Here’s another quick share of an article on road safety. This one is about drowsy driving, which is said to be more dangerous than drunk driving. Drowsy here is equated to being sleepy – for whatever reasons may have led the driver to be drowsy. Perhaps lack of sleep, fatigue or being simply tired, or maybe due to food or medication he/she took before driving.
Here is the link to the article, which has a link to the report referred to in the article:
https://www.ghsa.org/news/drowsy-driving-new-data-analysis
From the article:
“…several strategies to combat this dangerous behavior:
-
Start with prevention: Promoting healthy sleep habits for everyone – especially for teens as they begin their driving journey – is essential. Drivers should practice good “sleep hygiene,” which includes sleeping in a quiet, cool, device-free environment and avoiding caffeine or alcohol before bed.
-
Vehicle technology that’s available now: Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) features can monitor for telltale signs of drowsiness (like yawns or long blinks) and issue visual, auditory or haptic alerts to tell drivers to take a break. Notably, none of the current systems prevent a driver from ignoring them and continuing to drive, or from turning them off entirely.
-
Change the culture at work and school: Employers should implement responsible scheduling and travel policies to minimize fatigue. School districts can consider shifting high school start times later in the day to help teens get more rest. One study of high school student drivers found significantly lower crash rates with a later school start time.
-
Build more, smarter infrastructure: Infrastructure changes such as rest stops, rumble strips and cable median barriers can help prevent drowsy driving, wake drivers up or reduce the severity of a run-off-the-road crash.”
–
On at-grade crossings and footbridges
Here’s a quick share of an article on how at-grade crossings are generally better and preferred over footbridges:
When Footbridges Cost Lives and At-Grade Crossings Save Them
The article effectively articulates the case for at-grade crossings and presents the facts and references in support of these crossings. I will only add here that context is still important along with an appreciation or understanding of the volume of traffic and occupancy of vehicles along the roads. Commonwealth Avenue, for example, requires footbridges but there should be better designs for these footbridges than the current ones along this highway. I think we lack good designs that we can refer to and this leads to a summary dismissal of footbridges where they are actually most suitable.
–
More buses please
The modernization and rationalization initiatives of the government seem to have slowed down. While there are many modern or modernized jitneys on the road, these are mostly in the big cities including Metro Manila and comprise a small percentage of the total jeepneys currently operating around the country.
Buses have been in the mix of these initiatives especially after the pandemic when jeepney operations were suspended and buses were the first to be activated. In the case of Antipolo City in Rizal, bus services between the city and Cubao in Quezon City were introduced. We even thought that they will replace the jeepneys that dominated the routes. Now they are competitors along with Line 2.
There was a real opportunity there for rationalization that involved upgrading to a higher capacity vehicle but that didn’t materialize. In most cases, the so-called modern jeepneys (many really are mini buses) just added to the conventional jeepneys. Were the number of vehicles reduced while increasing passengers capacities? No.
“We need more buses!” is an understatement. We really need more buses but to replace lower capacity vehicles on the road. The inconvenient truth is that we need to phase out jeepneys along certain routes and replace them with buses. Jeepneys may still operate but along shorter routes and would serve as feeder/collector with respect to the main lines operated by rail and buses.
–
After getting engrossed with EDSA, is Marcos Highway next?
If you monitored the news articles and social media post over the past two decades, there seems to be an obsession for EDSA. Circumferential Road 4 is the busiest corridor in Metro Manila, stretching across several jurisdictions including Caloocan, Quezon City, Mandaluyong, Makati and Pasay City. Aside from the MMDA, national agencies like the DPWH and DOTr have been heavily involved in traffic schemes and transportation infrastructure development along the corridor. These include variants of the travel demand management (TDM) scheme commonly called number coding. Since the 1990s, there’s the Line 3 and several overpasses/flyovers and underpass that have been constructed along major intersections (e.g., EDSA-Shaw, EDSA-Ortigas, EDSA-Kamuning, EDSA-Quezon Avenue, etc.). Nowadays, people are more into the EDSA carousel and most recently the pavement rehabilitation for EDSA. It seems we failed to realize that EDSA is just one corridor. There are others that also demand attention including those in other parts of the country.
Recently, a “carmaggedon” along Marcos Highway was in the headlines or shall I say was trending in social media. There was a lot of excitement for what has been a recurring nightmare to those residing along the corridor. I recall something worse occurred more than 15 years ago (pre-Ondoy), before social media and influencers and digital creators. At the time, Line 2 terminated at Santolan Station. And even back then, the MMDA insisted on playing with their U-turn scheme. I don’t recall a more in-depth study that could have involved micro-simulation modeling being done for the corridor. And since then, populations and traffic have grown steadily and as I’ve written about previously, the extension of Line 2 to Masinag seems to have had little impact on traffic. And so here we are with the MMDA still insisting on tweaking their U-turn schemes and relying mainly on gut-feel instead of a more scientific approach that may actually lead to more sound solutions for the corridor.
Approach to Marcos Highway from Felix Avenue – that’s the elevated Line 2 superstructure behind the Cainta arch.
Intersection of Marcos Highway, Felix Avenue and Gil Fernando Avenue – there’s a major foot bridge installed here so people can cross at the intersection, which used to be a signalized junction before the MMDA opted for U-turns for Marcos Highway sections under its jurisdiction.
Marcos Highway section fronting the Ayala Feliz Mall – the MMDA has played with the location of the U-turn slots in the vicinity of the Marcos Highway-Amang Rodriguez-J.P. Rizal intersection as they tried to determine the “optimum” locations of these slots.
Of course, there is also the case of Commonwealth Avenue. How many carmaggedons have occurred along that corridor? Isn’t it an everyday thing there? And there’s also Ortigas Avenue Extension and many other roads and streets where congestion seems to have been accepted as the norm. How do we make travel easier for most people? How do we improve commutes given the constraints and realities concerning behavior and choices?
–
“Nobody Walks Here. It’s Too Hot or Cold or Wet or Dry.”
I’m sharing this article as it provides a clear response to the question about walking under different circumstances. Those circumstances include weather conditions. How many times have we heard people saying “people won’t walk because it’s too hot or rainy” ? Maulan (rainy)! Mainit (too hot)! And yet we find a lot of people walking, even when its extremely hot or the rains are pouring.
Source: “Nobody Walks Here. It’s Too Hot or Cold or Wet or Dry.”
Quoting from the article:
“The human ability to adapt is the key to our spectacular success on this planet. Our problem is that the people who lead our public conversations, our elites of wealth and opinion, are often some of the least adaptable people on earth. And when societies assume that we should listen to those people, we all end up internalizing the message that there’s something wrong with us if we even try to walk…
…Sometimes walking a few blocks is the key to liberty and prosperity in someone’s life. Most people do what makes sense in the place where they live. Only if we recognize that will we make the investments in urban design to make walking more bearable in extreme weather. And only then will our cities include everyone.”
Here’s another quote and a take on what certain people say that often influences our choice for walking:
“The functionality of a city, and of its transport system, arises from the sum of everyone’s choices about how to travel, not just the preferences of elites. When elites make pronouncements about what “people” will tolerate, while really speaking only of themselves, they mislead us about how cities actually succeed. They also demean the contributions of the vast majority of people who are in fact tolerating extreme weather to do whatever will give their lives meaning and value.”
–
On how delivery culture is influencing policy and urban design
While discussing on-street parking policies and schemes with Naga City LGU officials, one comment was on providing parking space for delivery riders. Truly, delivery riders have become a significant consideration especially where they have no parking spaces to wait or sort their items. The following articles expounds on how the rise of delivery culture is influencing policy and urban design:
Franco, A. (November 14, 2025) “From edge to epicenter: How the curb became a key piece in modern cities,” Public Square, https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2025/11/05/edge-epicenter [Last accessed: 11/14/2025]
To quote from the article:
“Urban designers need to recognize that while our streets were once built exclusively for car movement and storage, they are inherently adaptable. The opportunity now is to make these spaces more equitable, accessible, and efficient for everyone, not just car owners with parking privileges. After all, the street and the curb are public spaces and should serve the diverse needs of all citizens.”
On parking for typhoons
The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) recently issued a memo to shopping mall operators in Metro Manila in relation to the anticipated arrival and onslaught of a super typhoon. I reproduce the memo below:
As of this morning, most if not all mall operators (at least all of the major ones – SM, Robinsons, Ayala and Megaworld) have responded positively. Some observations this morning though shows a lot of people already lining up their vehicles at the malls to take advantage of the free parking. It seems a lot of people have misunderstood the memo and responses (from the malls) to mean there’s free parking from today til Monday. Let’s assume that most of these people live in flood prone areas and that many of them probably don’t have garages in their homes. This somewhat shows us another angle of vehicle ownership and the lack of parking for many. It also somehow tells us something about our dependency on cars and how we really need to have a better transportation system.
–
Senseless road crashes
My staff shared the following cctv footage of a recent road crash along C.P. Garcia Avenue just across the College of Science Complex in UP Diliman. The videos show two vehicles colliding along the road at nighttime. This is usually a busy road with traffic to and from Katipunan, mostly comprised of travelers associated with the schools I the area.
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17MPeJnrCk/
The black SUV appears to be speeding and suddenly veered towards the opposing lane where it collided with another vehicle. It is unclear if the driver lost control of the vehicle or was aware of what he was doing. That cost 2 lives as both drivers reportedly died from the crash.
This is among those crashes that can be regarded as senseless incidents. This could have been avoided if the driver was not speeding in the first place or perhaps was not influenced by any factor like alcohol or drugs. Perhaps it’s really about the behavior of certain motorists who shouldn’t have licenses to drive in the first place? We commonly refer to them as kamote drivers or riders. The LTO should do their part in ridding the roads of these menaces.
–
Caught (up) in traffic 