To the Better End
I was burnt dry. I was feeling the overwhelming shadow of the dreaded writer’s block creep at me from behind. And my turn at the Backseat Driver steering wheel was up. And then it happened. No. It wasn’t anything life-changing. It wasn’t even extraordinary by any Filipino’s standards. It was as normal an occurrence as jeepney drivers swerving whichever way without signaling (and getting away with it). I was driving along C-5, en route to yet another motoring industry related function, when some nitwit on foot came rushing from one end of the street to the other, while evading the oncoming vehicles. He made it to the other end, of course – no problem. Then we all went about our mundane lives like nothing mind-blowing had just occurred.
In any other country where people have more sense than to cross a major thoroughfare where there is no pedestrian crossing, that little incident would have made the front-page news. (Who am I kidding? Only elected officials who have a knack for holding hotels hostages deserve the front page in these islands, right? But I digress…) So it got me thinking. Exactly how much do we take for granted in this country when it comes to road usage? Exactly how much do we abuse the laxity of our authorities? Exactly how little common sense does the average Filipino road user have? The answers, if you go ask yourself, are pretty disappointing. It’s easy, actually. All you have to do is think of other examples of utter stupidity out on the roads.
In fact, if I may be so kind as to help you out, here’s another. And I’m sure it’s happened to you at one time or another. You’re approaching an intersection. On the street perpendicular to yours, traffic is almost grinding to a halt. Yet the vehicle that will in all likelihood find itself blocking the intersection’s path still tries to squeeze past the mess. It does, in effect blocking all the lanes in the intersection and creating a bigger mess. Now, you tell me how much common sense is packed in that driver’s head. The saddest part of it all? You know for a fact that he’s not alone in this practice.
The thing is, our authorities could care less about educating road users on proper road usage. The authorities are, in fact, more concerned about making the violators “pay” after they had done the deed, instead of nipping the wrong practice at the bud. They will, for example, wait for people to beat the red light and issue them a traffic violation ticket after they had done their wrong instead of stop them before they commit the crime.
The conclusion? The road users of today are a hopeless lot. Not only do they lack common sense. They also have this absurd mentality of thinking that doing the most ridiculous things out on the road – so long as they can get away with it – is perfectly fine. It’s sickening in its absurdity. But we swallow the bitter pill because we have no choice. Of course you do have a personal choice not to be such a twit. And you do have a personal choice to use your common sense and go against the obviously flawed flow. But you can’t expect the majority of road users to be as reasonable. The question is, however, if today’s road users are goners, are those of tomorrow just as doomed by fate?
Call us hopeless dreamers but a few of us still cling on to our idealism. In fact, personally, I am proud to say that I am devoted to the cause of preaching the gospel of road safety to the next generation of road users. Why do we involve ourselves in what seems to be a fleeting if not altogether insignificant cause? Because if we allow this generation to end up like ours, then we’re just as bad as those who live only for their own moment. Like the dude who blocked the path of the intersection. Or the crazy pedestrian who risked life and limb to cross the street in the least amount of time.
Here’s a ray of sunshine, though. We, and I refer to the group of motoring journalists I belong to called the Society of Philippine Motoring Journalists (SPMJ), have successfully conducted road safety seminars to more than 20 high schools across Metro Manila. We have put together a program along with the University of the Philippine National Center for Traffic Studies (UP-NCTS) and conducted the said seminars with the help of professional educators. And in order to keep the road safety flame burning in the minds of the youth we’ve led off to a good start, we’re in the process of putting together a quiz show that will pit the youngsters’ knowledge of road safety against each other. We’ll have elimination rounds and a finals series that will hopefully make it to television. That way we ideally get to hit a bigger audience. The prize? We’re still in the process of actually acquiring them but we’re looking at personal computers for both the students who win and the schools that they represent. Talk about a win-win situation.
We’re hoping that this modest contribution to proper road usage education can spark something bigger in the future. Or maybe enlighten more than just a few road users here and now. It actually feels good every time we attend the road safety seminars because we see the kids’ enthusiasm to learn the right thing. And, on occasion, they thank us profusely, too. Unlike the current batch of road users (or at least a huge majority of the current batch), these youngsters have at least gotten off on the right foot. Who knows? Maybe that’s all they need to acquire a little more common sense. And a lot more road savvy. Small seeds they may seem. But it really is the right place and the right way to start. Me? I’d like to think it opens up the road to a better end.
More power to your column. I just wish all the jeepney, tricycle, motorcycle, bus and taxi/FX drivers get to read it as well. – 09178115815
The worsening of Metro Manila’s traffic is mainly due to undisciplined drivers, especially jeepney and bus drivers, not just u-turns and bus bays. – 09206165348
Please try to set up a middle class party, motorists should join and fight for our rights. No one else would! – 09178459239
Speak out, be heard and keep those text messages coming in. To say your piece and become a “Backseat Driver”, text PHILSTAR<space>FB<space>MOTORING<space>YOUR MESSAGE and send to 2840 if you’re a Globe or Touch Mobile subscriber or 334 if you’re a Smart or Talk ’n Text subscriber or 2840 if you’re a Sun Cellular subscriber. Please keep your messages down to a manageable 160 characters. You may send a series of comments using the same parameters.)
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