If there is such a thing as road rage, can we come up with something to fully express how many of us sometimes feel about the traffic in our dearly beloved country?
Inexplicable traffic congestion last week caused explicable frustration among many motorists.
“Ortigas to Makati — 2 hours??? What’s going on?” one netizen tweeted. “Horrible traffic in Nagtahan,” another went. That was on the same night, obviously, when Edsa and other major roads had filled up fast.
I found these irate comments because I was trying to find a way to avoid the traffic on the way home, but could not find any advice or tips as to alternative routes. Like all motorists trapped in traffic seemingly out of nowhere, the lack of prior warnings of road closures and repairs can sour one’s mood in a flash.
Traversing Quezon City to Makati daily has been eased somewhat by the Skyway, but it can be hell to pay, literally.
Still, I console myself with the thought that being stress-free on the road is good for the health — what is a few thousand a month compared to hospital bills when your nerves can no longer take the slow-moving traffic, made even more maddening by motorcycles weaving in and out of lanes like some imagined superheroes on wheels?
At some point, the sheer number of motorcycles in the metro led to the creation of so-called motorcycle lanes. However, what good that has done still escapes many, especially those car drivers who find themselves with another layer of frustration when on the road.
Along with motorcycle riders who have no regard for the dangers they pose when they cut through one’s peripheral vision, the e-vehicles that started out “cute” are now becoming another road challenge.
In fact, because of “the proliferation of e-vehicles, the MMC deemed it imperative to regulate and penalize those that traverse the national roads,” Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Acting Chairman Don Artes said last week.
A “unified regulation” is yet to be reached among the local government units. While this matter remains “stuck in traffic,” so to speak, what are road users to do about the added challenge in the obstacle course we call Metro Manila traffic?
Like hunger, unemployment, and homelessness, it seems bad traffic is something Filipinos have to live with year in and year out. While some of our politicians are busy exacting revenge on their perceived enemies or polishing themselves up for the next elections, the motorists swelter and fidget while traversing bad roads that have worsened, street signs that are still nowhere to be found, and sudden bouts of road congestion.
We can excuse the MMDA, whose job is to manage traffic because it has a load of other responsibilities, but clearly, something has been so wrong with the setup for road management.
Like the state of our traffic, there seems to be a muddled quality to our government agencies responsible for our roads.
The Land Transportation Office, for example, is not only in charge of vehicle registration, but it is also said to be “involved in the enforcement of traffic rules and regulations, with the authority to confiscate driver’s licenses.”
The MMDA manages traffic, as we all know (but we hardly seem to feel it), but it is also involved in waste disposal and management, flood control, and disaster relief, among other things that have nothing to do with that hour-long standstill you endured on Mabini Bridge last week.
Then there is the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, which also handles licenses and vehicle registrations, but only for public transport.
Then there is the Road Board, the Philippine National Police Highway Patrol Group, and the Department of Public Works and Highways, all with specific functions and mandates.
However, like the snaking traffic that sees no tomorrow, these agencies also seem to have overlapping functions and, above all, a confusing melange of tasks all geared toward making our lives harder.
But, oh, how long will it take to get us there?
