Cars still figure in most road accidents, says PNP

MANILA, Philippines—Despite the proliferation of motorcycles on major roads, a large number of accidents still involve cars, statistics from the Philippine National Police Highway Patrol Group show.

According to the figures, from the months of January to October this year, a total of 8,260 private cars out of 18,391 motor vehicles were involved in a total of 14,847 vehicular accidents around the country. Motorcycles came a distant second with 2,829 involved followed by trucks at 2,062. The balance of 5,240 consisted of buses, jeeps, tricycles and other vehicles.

The statistics also revealed that more accidents occurred at night—8,709 of them—than daytime, 6,138.

The HPG said driver error was the most common cause of accidents, in particular “bad overtaking” techniques, which accounted for 2,848 accidents. Mechanical defects of vehicles accounted for 1,968 accidents.

A total of 719 accidents were caused by the drunk driving while 572 were caused by the use of cellular phones while driving.

National roads remained the most common place of vehicular accidents with a total of 4,206 of accidents occurring followed by expressways with 2,729.

The HPG said a total of 20,346 people were involved in the accidents, with 1,102 classified as fatalities. –Alcuin Papa, Philippine Daily Inquirer