The dreamt solution

Egay Uy .

WHY is there a considerable number of motorists who do not seem to know, or are simply playing ignorant of, basic traffic rules is still a question that may not be readily answered if we observed motorists’ behavior on the road.

This is evident through Facebook which has recently been replete with photographs of parking rule violators from ignoring No-Parking signs to blocking PWD ramps to parking on pedestrian crossings.

What are not posted on FB are motorists who speed up while approaching pedestrian crossings when there are pedestrians right in the middle of the road who have crossed the road halfway through.  I do have video footages of this indifference though which I will post on FB later.

Is the traffic mess in the city caused by poor or even lousy implementation of traffic rules by the traffic office?  Is it caused by malfunctioning traffic lights?  Is it caused by incompetent traffic office organics? Is it caused by undisciplined road users – motorists, pedestrians, and commuters? 

Probably yes to all of the above.  But most probably, too, the common cause of our traffic woes are undisciplined road users. I wrote earlier that I will one day dissert why the traffic office keeps on failing. While it may appear that I have trained my sights on the traffic office, it may not be necessarily so.

As I have stated when I was with the traffic office a few years back, the main cause of the traffic mess in the city are the undisciplined road users. Of course, the inept organic traffic managers have a contribution to add to that but, especially if they are merely made by the job – and worse, when they don’t even seriously attempt to make their jobs.

If we were to revamp the entire traffic system in the city, all it may take is reconfigure how the road network is being used without necessarily resorting to demolition of existing structures or dramatically changing the current geometric design of the roads.  Obviously it will be difficult to do this for an entire existing highly urbanized city no matter how doable it may be.

Now back to the undisciplined road users. Unless we are confined to our homes and our only “outside world” is our backyard, we are all road users.  We can try looking into the mirror and ask ourselves, “Have I been good when it comes to road discipline, and have I been fully compliant with traffic rules and regulations?”

If your answer is “yes” then I have to thank you for being a part of the dreamt solution.

(Egay Uy is a lawyer. He chairs the City’s Regulatory and Complaint Board, co-chairs with the city mayor the City Price Coordinating Council, and chairs the city’s Joint Inspection Team.  He retired as a vice president of Cepalco.)