A transport group on Tuesday urged the Department of Education (DepEd) and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to include road safety literacy in their curriculum to help improve public discipline and education on traffic rules.
Leonard Bautista, executive vice president of Liga ng Transportasyon at Operators ng Pilipinas (LTOP), said the public, not just motorists, should also be informed about road signs and safety measures.
“Isa sa sinasabi namin na sana maimprove at maisama sa curriculum ng TESDA, DepEd yung ating road safety kasi kailangan kahit yung mga ordinaryong estudyante at mananakay ay malaman yung mga road signs at road safety para kahit papano pag naging matured na sila, sila mismo disiplinado na din,” Bautista said in a press conference.
(One of the things we want to include in the curriculum of TESDA and DepED is road safety literacy for ordinary students and commuters to know the road signs and road safety so that once they mature, they are already disciplined.)
Bautista made the statement after concerns of modern jeepneys competing in getting passengers were raised.
He said this was the case because there is a lack of proper loading and unloading areas.
“Kailangan yung disiplina magsisimula sa mga mananakay. Kung maayos natin yung mindset ng ating mga estudyante o mga mananakay, tuloy-tuloy pati mindset ng mga driver at sistema sa ating transportation,” Bautista said.
(Discipline should start with commuters. If we fix the mindset of our students and commuters, we can also fix the mindset of our drivers and transportation system.)
In March, the Department of Health pushed for amendments in existing policies related to road safety as it raised concerns over the increasing number of deaths and injuries from road accidents.
Among these are placing speed limits on certain roads, installing anti-lock braking system on motorcycles, and implementing an effective engineering design for public utility vehicles.
In 2017, DepEd and the Land Transportation Office signed a memorandum of agreement to integrate a road safety program into the K-12 curriculum in an effort to lower the number of road accidents. —Mariel Celine Serquiña/RF, GMA Integrated News
