Are we there yet? D E F P O T E C
CEBU, Philippines - As sad as it seems, these seven letters have been the standard by which a person is assessed to be worthy of the privilege to command a motor vehicle. As long as one can clearly read out these letters with both eyes, a ‘certified’ doctor will issue that individual a clearance stating that the person is medically fit to drive. To those who aren’t familiar with these seven letters, these are the letters a person needs to read out to a doctor who will assess the individual’s ability to clearly see everything happening on the road. On the standard eye chart, these are the letters that a person reads out to determine if one has 20/20 vision.
What does it mean to have 20/20 vision? If you have 20/20 vision, it means that when you stand 20 feet away from the chart you can see what the “normal” human being can see. On the road, it means you can clearly see objects on and along the road as far as twenty feet away. Objects like other vehicles, pedestrians, road markings and street signages. Seeing all these is one thing, understanding and interpreting it properly is, sadly, something that happens in an alternate reality.
Let us take for instance all the “No Stopping Anytime” signage beside the building where the mayor of the main city holds office. In an alternate universe, this would mean that no motor vehicle of any type is allowed to park, let alone stop, within the area marked out by the signages. But apparently in our universe, it means, as long as it’s a red plate vehicle, or a vehicle owned by a close friend of someone who works in that building, the signage is to be interpreted as “Park Anytime.”
Aside from “No Stopping Anytime” meaning totally something else, apparently the word “must” is also interpreted as “may not necessarily” by many motorists and traffic enforcers on Diaper City. A signage that clearly reads “Left Lane Must Turn Left” is ignored by a fair number of drivers, and traffic enforcers do not do anything about it.
Speaking of doing nothing about it, when you see a scooter or moped being piloted by a driver who isn’t wearing a helmet, you know that the driver is in violation of the helmet law. But traffic enforcers of Stallion City seem to think otherwise. The traffic enforcers of this city seem to be unable to tell the difference between someone wearing a helmet and someone who isn’t.
On the subject of people that can’t tell the difference, I have personally witnessed a few from Kapitloyo City who cannot tell the difference between crossing and counterflowing. Due to total lack of logic and piss poor planning, the people from the public works department put up center islands that block their access to the other lane. To get to the other side of the road, these dolts actually go dangerously against the flow of traffic for the break in the island located around fifteen meters away from their gate. How can people responsible for urban planning screw up something so obvious and blatantly disregard public safety by recklessly driving against the flow of traffic?
Judging from all these, what our eyes see and read is different from what we are to comprehend. If the people in authority are the ones who encourage others to disregard the law, I guess it comes as no surprise that our roads are a mess and our traffic situation is getting worse.
- Latest
