Iloilo City Mayor Jerry P. Treñas said he plans to hasten the implementation of intelligent transport systems by 2020 as a means of reducing the number of vehicular accidents in the city.
Such systems include the addition of various technology for the purpose of monitoring traffic such as traffic signal control systems, automatic number plate recognition or speed cameras, installation of closed-circuit television cameras, among other mechanisms.
According to recent data from Police Regional Office-6, around 50 percent of road accidents across the Western Visayas between January and December 15 occurred in Iloilo City, totalling 5,911 incidents.
Second to Iloilo City was the province itself with 2,880 incidents.
Meanwhile, the Iloilo City Public Safety and Transportation Management Office (PSTMO) has been tasked to work with the Iloilo City Police Office to work on reducing the number of road incidents in the city.
According to PSTMO head Jeck Conlu, 60 to 80 percent of accidents in the city happened at night and early in the morning, when city roads have less traffic and there are no enforcers on duty.
He pointed out, such incidents may be cases of drunk driving./WDJ