Halsema Highway - the Most Dangerous Road in the Philippines Essay

Halsema Highway has a distance of 150 km and goes through the Valley of Cordillera that is located from Baguio to Mountain Province, where falling of rocks and landslide are normal and usual things that happened along the road. As years passed by, numerous part of the highway is still not concrete combined with lack of street lights and the absence of guardrails in some parts are continuously contributing to the complication of Halsema Highway's already unsafe situation. Several areas of this highway are still risky because of unclear conditions especially during at night. When the rain falls, which is frequent, the asphalt portion of the way becomes slippery. It is also made beside a very landslide-prone area. During rainy seasons, the smog becomes too thick that visibility is impossible. Some areas lacked of guardrails and other areas were still unpaved before its completion lately. Cars have known to fall over right off the edge. That is why Halsema Highway is considered as the Most Dangerous Road in the Philippines and included in the latest list of Top 10 Most Dangerous Roads all over the World (Khanal, 2016).
Not all parts of the road have streetlights, only in Baguio up to Acop, Caponga, Tublay, Benguet. Every day, travelers, carriers, visitors, and occupants coming from Mountain Province or from Baguio drove this path, they are suffering extreme peaks, slim and precipitous drop offs, some more than 1000 feet. It goes over several of the most isolated provinces in our country. As similar with many under-maintained peak roads, mudslides and landslide are threat on the Halsema Highway, where huge stones and debris flip from peaks and alongside with the cloud jungles comes mist that can ruin visibility.
According to the statistics from Philippine National Police (2015), Benguet has the highest rate of road accidents in Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) and a huge number of it occurred along Halsema Highway. Last November 30, 2013, a white commuter van fell off a chasm projected to be around 50 meters deep alongside Halsema Highway within the town of Atok, Benguet due to unclear weather condition. Reports said that 1 died and 14 passengers were hurt. Not a year after the accident, 12 high school students died in Benguet road accident last September 11, 2014. An interview with Mina Bela-o (2014), a Buguias resident, she said, "The jeepney then rolled off the road and fell into the ravine," Based from Magalong (2014) the driver apparently lost control of the vehicle in a slippery portion of the Halsema Highway following a heavy rain and fog in the area. That is why it is so significant to address this problem because the lives of people who always go through the road are still in danger because of hazardous status of the road. Every year, many lives of people are being loss because of accidents happened along the road.
Different cities and provinces have also the same projects. Like in Talaingod, Davao Del Norte, Tigbao, Zamboanga Del Sur and Manila City.