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Egay Uy

THE Roads and Traffic Administration has recently been the object of negative reactions from road users allegedly because of the way traffic enforcers, some of them anyway, deal with road users.

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Incidents have been reported to the RTA through letters, phone calls, text messages, and even through the media, both social and the press. Some other incidents are also reported in person.  And, some reports contain details while some others do not.

To assure the public of positive actions, the RTA management has taken steps to address the problem. The traffic enforcers with reported complaints even in the recent past are being identified and will be literally herded to the training room of the RTA for refresher seminars on how to deal, politely and professionally that is, with road users.

This is in addition to the immediate action that the RTA takes to address specific complaints and reports of improper conduct on the part of traffic enforcers, and the regular conduct of refresher seminars for both old and new personnel.

Road users also come in many types and kind.  Some immediately submit to the apprehension conducted by traffic officers, while some others do not.  It is the exchange of words that follow the flag-down of motorists that usually triggers misunderstandings.

But then again, traffic enforcers are supposed to behave properly even if the road users do not.  “Behaving properly” includes those traffic enforcers who are up to sabotage programs of the current RTA leadership because of loyalty-to-the-job issues.

Not unknown to the RTA leadership, there still are traffic enforcers who deliberately display improper attitude and conduct in order to malign the organization and those running it. This is another challenge that has to be faced and addressed squarely.

As we have mentioned, feedback from the public on how the traffic enforcers behave on the road is much appreciated.  It will surely help the RTA management improve the department’s services to the public.

While feedback and the consequent actions that will be taken help improve the service, self-discipline on the road, coupled with concern for other motorists, is another.

An imagined scenario that exemplifies this is: a motorist parks his car in front of a “no parking” sign and looks for a traffic enforcer. He then asks, “Sir, pwede mo parking dinhi?” What aggravates this is if the traffic enforcer replies, “OK ra sir. Pag-hazard lang.”

 

(Egay Uy is a lawyer and chairman of the city’s Task Force Hapsay Dalan.)

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