📌SEDA Vertis North, Quezon City
📅 March 19, 2025
In a collective push to make roads safer for children and other vulnerable users, the 2025 Philippine Road Safety Summit was held on March 19, 2025, at SEDA Vertis North, Quezon City, with the theme “Safe Streets, Save Children.” The summit brought together key policymakers, road safety experts, researchers, and advocates to address the escalating burden of road traffic injuries in the country, particularly among school-aged children.
Representing the UP National Center for Transportation Studies (UP NCTS) were Mr. Sahid Kamid and Mr. Glenn Latonero, both members of the Center’s Traffic Engineering and Management – Road Safety Research Laboratory (TEM–RSRL). Dr. Ricardo Sigua, former Director of UP NCTS was also present.
Dr. Ricardo Sigua, lead of the recently concluded Child Road Traffic Injury Prevention (CRTIP) Project, contributed to one of the summit’s panel discussions, where he shared insights on road traffic injury prevention and emphasized the importance of integrating engineering, education, and enforcement in road safety programming.
Summit Rationale and Importance
Globally, road crash-related injuries remain the leading cause of death for children and youth aged 5 to 29 years old. In the Philippines, deaths from road traffic injuries increased by 39% over the past decade, with children aged 15 to 19 experiencing the highest fatality rates. Recognizing this urgent issue, the summit aimed to raise awareness, promote cross- sectoral collaboration, and mobilize public commitment to implement child-focused road safety strategies.
The event builds on the foundations of the Philippine Road Safety Action Plan 2023–2028, which aligns with global frameworks such as the Decade of Action for Road Safety and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It also reinforced the mandates of the National Coalition for Child Road Traffic Injury Prevention (NC-CRTIP), composed of over 80 member institutions and 13 national agencies, including the University of the Philippines.
Key Topics Discussed:
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- Global and Local Road Safety Burden
- Engineering, Enforcement, and Education (3Es) in Road Safety
- Safety of Vulnerable Road Users (VRU), especially children
- Lessons from Road Crash Incidents and Local Experiences
- Public Health Perspective on Road Safety
- Commitments and Action Plans for Child Road Safety
The summit served as a platform to present best practices, share success stories from communities, and agree on multi-sectoral action points for road traffic injury prevention. The focus was clear: to protect children, we must transform streets into safe spaces by improving infrastructure, enforcing existing road laws, and embedding road safety into school and community programs.
