TRB spokesman: Driver error, leading cause of road crashes

Human error is the leading cause of road accidents in expressways, according to the spokesman of the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB).

“As far as the design of our toll way is concerned, it follows international standard. I would say it is already comparable to toll that you will find somewhere else,” Alberto Suansing said in a report by Cedric Castillo on "Balintanghali."

“In almost all cases, it's all about drivers' error,” he said.

According to TRB records, the number of road crashes in expressways has been increasing over three years. In 2016, there were 5, 818 road accidents recorded. It went up to 7, 960 in 2017 and still rose in 2018 with 9, 166 road accidents.

Also, 19 out 1,000 vehicles that drove along Skyway this year had an accident, TRB records said.

North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) had the most number in terms of fatalities, with total deaths of 61 since 2016. NLEX also had the most number of injuries with a total of 3,652 since 2016.

“Because mas maraming sasakyan ang dumadaan doon compared to SLEX. Sa NLEX, matulin takbo. Sa Skyway na-reregulate pa yung speed doon,” Suansing said.

GMA News is still trying to reach the officials of NLEX and Skyway for their side.

Meanwhile, TRB reminded the riding public that following traffic rules can go a long a way.

“For every 10 kilometers per hour of speed, you should maintain a one vehicle distance so if you are running 100 kilometers per hour, dapat 10 vehicles distance ang gap mo,” Suansing said.

“Inner lane is for faster vehicle, outer lane is for slower vehicle,” he added. — Joviland Rita/ LDF, GMA News