Road accidents are now the fourth leading cause of death in the Philippines according to the Department of Health (DOH) as proved by the string of highway mishaps during the past weeks.

In a road safety seminar at the University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman, Dr. Cecile Magturo of the DOH said fatigue due to long driving hours contribute greatly to drivers losing control of their vehicles.

“Drivers are bent on trying to reach their quota, that is where we have problems, accompanied by fatigue,” she said in the vernacular.

While road accidents caused by human error accounted only for a small two percent of the total rate, Magturo said she still blames operators and concerned agencies for their insufficient safety policies.

It the trend continues, health officials said they fear that road accidents could become the leading cause of deaths in the country by the year 2020.

All about attitude

According to Vip Isada of the Automobile Association of the Philippines, road accidents can be prevented if drivers correct their driving behavior.

"Driving is behavioral,” says Isada. “When you say behavioral that means its what you believe yourself, that is how you would drive. It’s only necessary that you believe that when it’s red it means stop, not stop when you see it’s green.”

However, the long driving hours remains an issue among drivers of public utility vehicles.

Driver Gerry Arcilla said he usually starts his daily grind at 4 a.m. He drives for 18 straight hours until 12 midnight.

“Sometimes it’s being sleepy,” said Arcilla in the vernacular. “That’s the main problem of drivers… sleepiness.”

When fatigue sets in, it is not unusual for driver to become irritable. This, according to health experts lead to driving errors and accidents.

This is why the Land Transportation Office (LTO) plans to issue a circular that will limit the working hours of bus and jeepney drivers.

“There should be a limit on the number of hours that they can drive,” said LTO chief Asec. Alberto Suansing also in the vernacular. With a report from Alex Santos, ABS-CBN News