Pro-safety organization steps up advocacy as road crashes in Philippines increase
CEBU CITY – Thousands die every year in the country due to crashes.

ROAD safety tips are discussed in the 51st National Road Safety Conference from May 30 to 31 in Cebu City. (Calvin D. Cordova)
With this, the Safety Organization of the Philippines Inc. (SOPI) intensified its advocacy for road safety by hosting the 51st National Road Safety Conference here from May 30 to 31.
“This is part of the mandate of SOPI. This convention was implemented by virtue of Presidential Proclamation 105-A declaring every month as a safety month and May is a Road Safety Month,” said SOPI National President Eros Zuniga.
Officials from various government agencies and private stakeholders attended the convention.
“Our main objective is to prevent road crashes. All road users, pedestrians, and drivers must observe road safety, that’s why our subjects are geared towards preventions of road crashes,” said Zuniga.
Zuniga said the number of people dying due to road crashes continues to increase.
He said that based on data collected by SOPI, around 12,000 people died due to road crashes in the Philippines in 2023.
There were about 11,000 people who were injured because of road crashes in the country in 2023, Zuniga added.
“There is really a need to inform drivers and pedestrians alike on the importance of knowing the rules and speed limits to prevent road crash incidents,” Zuniga said.
SOPI aims to help reduce road crashes by 50 percent per year through information drives and conferences.
Zuniga added that statistics also showed that some 20,000 injuries were recorded from road crashes which mostly involve young and new drivers in the Philippines.
Most of the road crashes involved motorcycles.
Meanwhile, SOPI has reopened its Cebu Chapter which has invited safety officers and “safety-minded” people to join.
“We want to highlight the importance of safety across the different industries to make it a priority as a designed discipline of everyone in all of generation and to embrace the beauty of compliance and sustainability,” said SOPI Cebu Chapter president Rane Ann Javier.