MANILA – The Department of Health has advised motorists to use seatbelts and motorcycle riders to wear helmets at all times for their safety and protection, especially at accidents peak from 4 p.m. to 7:59 pm.

They were also asked to refrain from taking alcohol or liquor that are the number one risk factors for transport/ vehicular related injury cases or 13.6 percent.

The advisory came as the DOH 2011 first quarter data from its National Electronic Injury Surveillance System reported a total of 12,729 injury cases, with transport/vehicular crashes as the highest cause of injury, with 3,901 cases.

NEISS is a computer-based (web-based) system developed by the DOH with facility to electronically capture-injury related data from health facilities, store data in a centralized and secured location, process, consolidate, and transform data to meaningful information.

Of the total transport/vehicular crashes, 16 were reported dead on arrival, and 8 were motorcycle riders, none of whom were wearing helmets.

"Motorcycle riders should wear helmets to protect themselves from fatal injuries," Health Undersecretary Teodoro Herbosa, said, adding that those riding in tandem should also wear helmets.

Around 47 percent of recorded vehicular injuries involved motorcycles while 6.6 percent were occupants of tricycles, and 3.3 percent were riding bicycles, and 14.7 percent of vehicular injuries were pedestrians.

Also, almost half of (48.5 percent) the transport/ vehicular accidents were non-collision, nearly two-thirds (59 percent) of the cases occurring from 8 a.m. to 7:59p.m. and with highest occurrence between 4 p.m. to 7:59 p.m. at 25.1 percent.

There were 72.4 percent more males than females, 27.6 percent involved in the accidents.

Central Luzon had the highest (22.4 percent) reported incidence of transport/vehicular accident, followed by Davao Region (21.6 percent), and MIMAROPA (10.6 percent). The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and CARAGA region registered a lower vehicular accident cases at 0.4 percent each.

"The DOH urges everyone, especially motorcycle riders, to always take safety precautions seriously and follow the law. Again, please wear helmets at all times," Herbosa said.*PNA

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