Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC), currently the biggest toll road developer in the Philippines, joins the country in celebrating road safety month with ‘Mission: Road Safety’ – the group’s program to institutionalize road safety awareness and education for all road users.
“Road safety is at the core of Metro Pacific Tollways’ business. We have advanced protocols in place to avoid untoward incidents. We have responsive on-ground and 24/ hotline personnel to ensure that our motorists are well attended to. (We have) expressways that are built for safety, and employees who have passion for innovation to explore more ways to better serve our stakeholders,” said MPTC President and CEO Rodrigo Franco.
Road safety awareness for all ages
According to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), road accidents are the cause of 345 fatalities each day in the country. To help counter this, MPTC’s business units target various stakeholders that share the company’s vision and can help amplify the company’s safety mission with year-round activities.
Each of MPTC’s units has its own existing flagship programs to spread road safety awareness. While the NLEX Corp. has its Biyahero Road Safety Caravan, the Metro Pacific Tollways South (MPT South) has its Drayberks Drive Road Safety Seminars. Both programs teach proper expressway driving, traffic rules and regulations, the importance of vehicle roadworthiness, and preparing one’s self (as the driver). In the Visayas, the Cebu Cordova Link Expressway Corporation (CCLEC)’s advocacy program dubbed Istorya Ta Bai! cultivates safe driving habits and orients motorists on the key safety features of Cebu’s iconic toll bridge CCLEX.
The NLEX Usapang Driver is a forum aimed at educating drivers from bus and trucking companies on safe expressway driving. To date, over seven bus and 13 trucking companies have participated in this program. NLEX also has Kaligtasan sa Daan (KalSaDa), a road safety education program targeted at its community partners and neighboring barangays.
In November of 2022, NLEX and Paramount Consumer Products launched the ‘Nickelodeon Safety First with PAW Patrol’ campaign showcasing messages of safety for children. These safety messages can be seen on toll plaza banners and billboards along NLEX’s extensive road network until June 2023.
Not to be outdone, MPT South has the Bayani ng Kalsada (BayaniKa) program that teaches kids about road signs and familiarizes them with road safety measures, particularly on expressways. Since its inception in 2022, over 800 school children from host communities have benefitted joined the teaching sessions.
Peak travel seasons
During peak travel seasons and holidays, MPTC units from North to South intensify their operations under the ‘Safe Trip Mo Sagot Ko’ initiative. In anticipation of the surge of traffic volume, over 1,200 patrol crews, traffic marshals, and security teams are deployed to ensure effective traffic management along its expressways. Emergency medical services and incident response teams are also fielded in strategic areas.
Convenient travel companion
Aside from the physical upkeep of its roadways and the management of its tollways, MPTC developed the MPT DriveHub app that serves as a convenient travel companion for its road users. The app provides ancillary services such as online RFID reloading, real-time traffic updates of its seven expressways, and a direct line to 24/7 emergency roadside assistance, to further improve the experience of tollway users.
To better serve its roadway users, an integral part of MPTC’s Corporate Sustainability Strategic Goals is the continuous improvement of its services. This aligns with the United Nations General Assembly’s adopted resolution to “Improving global road safety” with the ambitious target of reducing at least 50% of road traffic deaths and injuries by 2030.
Read more about MPTC and its concessions here www.mptc.com.ph/.