Pedestrians in the Philippines face a numerous of challenges when they walk along and across streets. Not only are our streets not equipped to handle the massive amount of cars, trucks, buses, jeepneys, motorcycles, tricycles and bicycles fighting to get a space in the race to a destination, but the lack of sidewalks adds our pedestrians to that already faulty equation.

Along with not having a sidewalk to safely parade on, there is also a shortage of pedestrian crossings. Pedestrians are therefore forced to dodge all the varieties of vehicles with high speeds and limited visibility to get to the other side of the road and to their destination. Our soft bodies are no match to the metal shield of a vehicle and met in a collision the pedestrian doesn’t stand a chance.

There are a variety of objectives that all have to work together to make our roads safer for everyone traveling by our roads. There are easy and cheap ways to do this and we call these our short term goals because this is something everyone traveling can do the next time they get on the road:

• Reduce speed of motor vehicles.
• Reduce volume of motor vehicles.
• Reduce exposure time for pedestrians.
• Improve visibility of pedestrians.
• Improve understanding and compliance with traffic laws.
• Eliminate behaviors that lead to crashes. (Drunk driving, cell phone use, jaywalking etc.)

The more difficult tasks to make our roads safer and our long term goals are improving our country’s infrastructure and regulations. The improvements needed are many, and we need to make these a priority:

• Improve and develop sidewalks for pedestrians.
• Improve and develop bicycle lanes for cyclists.
• Improve sight length for both drivers and pedestrians.
• Improve and develop strategic overpasses and pedestrian crossings.
• Improve access and mobility for all pedestrians.
• Improve compliance with traffic laws
• Improve and develop a proper commuting structure for buses, jeepneys, Fx, Taxi’s, etc.

Each of these objectives, both short term and long term can be accomplished. The short term goals are up to all of us as individuals to take responsibility for. We cannot behave irresponsible on the road and blame the infrastructure, for improvement it is a combination of long term and short term needed to see improvement, and the short term goals is not only a choice but a duty of the person using the road.

After dark

Another aspect of pedestrian safety that is very often overlooked is that the chances of being struck and killed as a pedestrian increase by 1100% after dark. In the northern countries reflectors have been worn by the public since the 1960’s to be more visible and safe in traffic during the dark hours. It is a standard accessory for everyone that fares on the roads during the dark as it increases the visibility of a pedestrian by a factor of five.

A reflector can be used in many ways but is usually found hanging and dangling to reflect in more angles, nowadays there are several designs to choose from and in the northern countries reflectors are often built in when you buy items such as backpacks, jackets, shoes etc. They have understood that this is something of great value at a very cheap price than can save lives. An example: The backpacks of school children go through rigorous testing by media that advices consumers what to buy, and without a reflector, the brand will be avoided by parents. The safest backpacks with reflectors are usually the best sellers.

So why has the importance of reflectors escaped Filipinos? Many say it is because the south eastern countries don’t have dark winters,  but that surely doesn’t mean that we are exempted to dark hours. Reflectors are not limited to winter, only to darkness, and every country in the world has that, every single day! To protect our pedestrians and lower the death statistic,  the easiest and most cost efficient way is to educate the public on the use of reflectors.

(The City of Calgary made this ad, urging their pedestrians to wear reflectors when walking in the dark with the tagline: Reflect on your safety.)