Are we there yet? New Year’s revolution

CEBU, Philippines - Now that another year has passed, I hope things will improve for all of us.  2014 has been a very trying year.  From horrendous traffic brought about by the numerous, simultaneous road repairs all over the metropolis, to the embarrassingly piss-poor results of the road repairs, we hope this new year will be leaps and bounds better for all of us.

With the installation of a new traffic Czar for the main city, we hope that he will bring about the much needed reforms to improve traffic conditions in the city.  With their implementation of the “flashing yellow” scheme, I have seen improvements in traffic management during peak hours.  Key intersections in the city are being manned by traffic enforcers during rush hour, instead of out-dated, automatic traffic lights.  I’m glad that the traffic board has finally realized the importance of the human element and coordination among the enforcers to ease congestion.

The next step in their long term plan is to use the one network that everyone seems to overly abuse and misuse, the social network.  Since everyone seems to be relying more and more on these social networking sites to inform their peers about anything, the traffic board is looking to tap into this medium to help educate and inform its constituents.  They are hoping that, by using social media, the general public will be more educated with traffic rules and regulations, plus be active volunteers and participants in monitoring traffic conditions all over the metropolis. 

I’m sick and tired of seeing so much self-serving vanity on the internet, that I hope people will learn to use the internet in much better ways.  Posting images and sharing information about traffic conditions in different areas would be more useful than letting everyone know about your “outfit of the day.”  Not surprisingly, those types of people are the same people who recklessly endanger themselves by blatantly disobeying traffic rules and regulations.

My greatest hope, however, is for the other key cities in the metropolis to follow the lead of the main city and work towards improving traffic conditions in the province.  The steps they are taking are not herculean, and neither were their plans drawn up by rocket scientists.  All it takes is a little bit of initiative and perseverance to understand the traffic conditions, study and implement effective solutions and have the balls to enforce traffic laws. 

When you make your constituents understand that enforcing and being strict with traffic rules and regulations is for their overall safety and well-being, I am very confident that the traffic situation will be much better for all of us.  This will take a good while, especially with the reluctance of many to be disciplined.  But once people understand that it’s for the greater good, a new year revolution wouldn’t be too far behind.

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