PW 1489 Philippine road safety data: gaps and challenges

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2018

Abstract

Road crash deaths in the Philippine have been increasing, from 6806 in 2006 to 10 012 in 2015, representing about 47% increase over a 10 year period or an average increase of about 4% annually. This is despite efforts of the Philippines to address road safety through various policies, programs and plans.

Poor data governance on road crashes continues to be one of the major challenges in addressing road safety in the Philippines. The number of road traffic deaths may even be underestimated due to underreporting, with only 10% of road crashes being reported. For example, the Philippines Department of Public Works and Highways reported 1513 road traffic deaths in 2013 capturing only 6.9% of the estimated number of 10 379 road traffic deaths reported by WHO in the same year.

The disparity and inconsistency in reports and data pose a problem in properly identifying and prioritizing evidence-based policies and cost-effective programs that are needed to help reduce road crash deaths in the country. Using data from desktop reviews, expert round table discussions, multi-stakeholder policy dialogues and secondary data gathered from various government offices such as the Department of Transportation Department of Health, Philippine National Police, Metro Manila Development Authority and the Philippine Statistics Authority, this paper discusses the road safety data landscape in the Philippines. In particular, the paper focuses on the who, what and how road safety data and data systems are managed by different government agencies as a function of their mandates to collect, process, store and disseminate data that are relevant to their primary functions; initiatives for integration; gaps and challenges; and recommendations to improve road safety data for better informed and evidence-based policy and decision-making in the country.

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