WHILE dengue often dominates public health campaigns in Western Visayas — with good reason — there is another killer lurking in plain sight, claiming more lives and commanding far less attention: road crashes.
Recent data from the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) is grim. From January 1 to March 24, 2025, it recorded 1,082 road crashes, resulting in 42 fatalities and hundreds of injuries. To put this in perspective, road crashes in Iloilo cause five times more deaths than dengue, yet they receive far less urgency. Motorcycles are disproportionately involved, accounting for the highest number of casualties. In 2024, motorcycles were involved in 2,048 incidents out of 3,184 total road crashes that resulted in 123 deaths and over 1,200 injuries
Yet, where are the widespread public warnings, the emergency declarations, or the multimillion-peso interventions?
Authorities rightly attribute most crashes to reckless driving, particularly unsafe overtaking, overspeeding, and disregard for traffic rules. Motorcycles, especially, are frequently involved in fatal incidents. Alarmingly, many of these accidents involve underage and unlicensed drivers, operating motorcycles and tricycles on public highways under the noses of adults who should know better.
Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. has raised the alarm, calling on motorists to obey traffic laws and for parents to keep children off the road. His warning is timely — but words must now translate to action. It is time we treat traffic-related deaths with the same urgency and policy seriousness as we do epidemics. This means strengthening road safety education in schools, ramping up law enforcement and driver discipline, and investing in better infrastructure, including proper signage, lighting, and safe crossings.
Equally critical is community accountability. Parents who allow minors to drive are complicit in this epidemic. Local leaders must ensure that ordinances against underage driving are enforced, not just written.
We commend the province’s “Road Safety Summit” last year but isolated events will not suffice. Iloilo needs a sustained, province-wide campaign — backed by adequate funding, inter-agency coordination, and the political will to make roads safer for everyone.
The numbers don’t lie. Road crashes are no longer just accidents. They are a public health emergency. And unless we act decisively, this silent epidemic will continue to maim, kill, and steal futures — all while we look the other way.
