MANILA, Philippines — The Automobile Association of the Philippines (AAP) has suggested the creation of an “independent trained investigator” that was “scientific and forensic” to probe road incidents.

The group proposed this during the Metro Manila Development Authority’s (MMDA) dialogue on road safety with transport sector leaders and concerned government agencies at its headquarters in Pasig City on Wednesday.

“We recommend an independent trained investigator be created to investigate the road incidents. Kailangan itigil na yung haka-haka kung bakit nagkaroon ng crash (We need to stop speculations as to why there was a crash),” AAP government liaison Roberto Consunji said.

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Consunji specified that the independent investigator be “scientific and forensic.”

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“I believe that if there is more scientific, forensic investigation involved, then we can blame the specific cause or the approximate causes of the incident,” he told officials at the dialogue.

“Forensic investigation will tell us: overloading ba talaga? Calibrated ba talaga yung timbangan? (Is it really overloading? Is the weighing scale really calibrated?)” he added. “If we… investigate and interview and take physical evidence… and do the crash photos, then we will be able to determine the causes.”

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MMDA Chairman Don Artes said the suggestion would be fleshed out in a technical working group.

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Land Transportation Office Chief Vigor Mendoza also said they would immediately report to Transport Secretary Jaime Bautista the proposal to create an independent investigating body and other road safety measures suggested by sectoral representatives in the dialogue.

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The National Capital Region unit of the Philippine National Police – Highway Patrol Group (PNP HPG) then backed Consunji’s proposal, citing their need for a technical expert.

“As to yung causes kasi, kapag nakapanood kasi tayo ng insidente ng road crash, laging sinasabi ay nawalan ng preno. But have we checked yung statistics natin kung totoo ba ito?” said NCR HPG chief Col. Joel Jucutan.

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(As to the causes, whenever we witness road crash incidents, they always say that they lost their brakes. But have we checked the statistics if this was true?)

“Kasi ang technical expert diyan is sa LTO, kasi sa crime lab namin is wala kaming engineers doon na nagco-conduct ng investigation as to yung technical defects… So, napakaganda ng suggestion ng AAP to have a scientific basis sa traffic investigation,” he added.

(The technical expert in this case is with the LTO because our crime lab lacks engineers who can conduct investigations into technical defects. So, the AAP’s suggestion for a scientific basis in traffic investigations is very valuable.)

Before the dialogue, Artes said that while there were fewer road crashes reported in 2024, the incidents were more fatal.

LOOK: Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairperson Don Artes says despite fewer road crashes this year so far, incidents have been more fatal.

The agency’s data shows there were 62,723 road crash incidents with 332 fatalities so far in 2024, as of Nov. 30. Meanwhile,… pic.twitter.com/7IRlQTaolZ

— Inquirer (@inquirerdotnet) December 12, 2024

In a statement on Tuesday, AMRO kept its gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for the Philippines at 6.1 percent for this year and 6.3 percent in 2025, driven by “higher government spending as well as an upturn in external demand, and strengthening domestic demand.”

He cited MMDA data showing 62,723 road crash incidents with 332 fatalities so far in 2024, as of Nov. 30. Meanwhile, there were 85,954 incidents with 352 fatalities in the entirety of 2023.

This means there was roughly one fatality for every 189 road crash incidents in 2024lucky7, compared to one fatality for every 244 incidents in 2023.

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