DPWH to attend to national road black spots to improve road safety –Bonoan

The Department of Public Works and Highways said they would "attend seriously" to black spots or accident-prone areas on national roads to improve road safety in the country.

During the House Appropriations Committee hearing on the DPWH's proposed budget for 2023, 1-Rider Party-list Representative Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez disclosed that he had written the DPWH a letter to seek data on black spots across the country as well as details of road accidents that occur in these areas.

Gutierrez, however, was dismayed by the "bare" report that the department had given him.

According to DPWH Undersecretary Maximo Carvajal, the agency identified 840 black spots in the country since 2018, with 148 of these areas having undergone engineering intervention.

"Every year thousands would perish from road crashes and it is a very sad state of affairs," Gutierrez lamented.

"It is a big point for us in asking for these reports because although I see the numbers, the road intersections, these are just the list of investigated black spots but what our constituency wants to ask is what is being done about these black spots because it is bewildering to find out that we have 800 plus identified but only 140 plus have engineering interventions. What happens to the rest?" he asked.

Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan said there may have been a "lapse of communication" and assured the lawmaker that they would provide Gutierrez with the details he had been seeking.

"May I assure the congressman that this is one of the priority areas that we are going to look into actually because one death is too many for us in addressing road safety on our roads. We will attend seriously to these black spots," Bonoan said.

"We have a team that is going through the national roads, identifying the black spots and we will do that. We will give you the inventory that we have, the total requirements that we need actually, and the program that we have implemented so far," he added.

Gutierrez welcomed Bonoan's assurance, saying he was "elated" that they shared the view that one death was too many when it came to accidents. — DVM, GMA News