Modus Operandi

By this time you might have already heard of the plight of one Tara Santelices, who was critically hurt a month ago when the jeepney she was riding was held up by a still unknown assailant. Tara, a 23-year-old student, is a Rock Ed volunteer. She was among those who silently worked in the sidelines as we in the forefront made all the noise about an ongoing road safety awareness campaign dubbed Ingat Avenue. Because of her knee-jerk reaction to the entire hold up process, she was instinctively shot in the head. And we, the people behind Ingat Avenue, haven’t stopped trying to raise funds to help defray her family’s rising hospital bills since.

Tara fell victim to a modus operandi all too familiar with us. Late night heists are nothing new to the commuting public. Tara was on her way home at 12:30 in the evening when a thug boarded the jeepney she took and announced the hold up. What was she doing riding a jeepney at 12:30 in the evening, you ask? She, along with her friend Joee, had just come from a coffee shop where they waited for the clock to strike 12 so that they could celebrate a very special occasion. Tara was shot on her 23rd birthday. As of press time, Tara is still fighting for her life. She’s been comatose for more than a month.

Tara’s sad but all too familiar tale is one wrapped in thick irony. In the middle of a road safety campaign meant to promote better driver, passenger and pedestrian behavior, she, a volunteer, is victimized and made an example of exactly what we’re trying to prevent – in such a brutal manner at that. The odds and the timing are almost unfathomable. Yet such is reality.

Which brings me to another reality – the fact that there are several modus operandi that we are subject to on a regular basis. The other day, as I was driving home, thinking of more ways to combat this growing illness that is unsafe roads, I too fell victim to a different road related modus operandi. Along the short stretch of EDSA that starts from Roxas Boulevard and ends in Taft Avenue, traffic is at its worst during rush hour. There, a lunatic who makes a mockery of road safety regularly victimizes motorists, particularly drivers.

Here was the scene: With traffic crawling at around 5 km/h, this guy threw his body into the car that I was driving. He feigned illness, pretended he was brutally hurt by this “mayaman” who was driving a brand new luxury car (obviously, a test drive unit). I stopped when he hit the vehicle, of course. I couldn’t see him, after all. But after a few seconds, he got up and started shouting invectives at me. He demanded to get paid, insisted that it was because of my negligence that he got hurt. I gave him P50 just so he would leave me alone. I was sure I didn’t hit him. I was sure he threw himself at the vehicle I was driving in an obvious effort to extort. But I just didn’t want trouble – which obviously he was more than willing to bring my way. And so it ended there.

Then it occurred to me. The bastard was actually making a mockery of all that we had been working for. I remembered Tara, and how she was victimized in a road mishap. And here was someone who was using “road mishaps” as a tool for extortion. It made me sick. So sick, in fact, that by the time I’d made it to the Taft intersection, I stopped to tell the traffic aides about the incident. “Oh! He’s back! He’s at it again. Radio the units there in that area and get him off the street,” said the aide in Tagalog to one of his companions. Yes, apparently it was a modus operandi that the authorities in the area were all too familiar with. I was right. This was all a joke to the bloke.

The moral of the story is that we’re never really safe out on the streets. Which makes it all the more imperative for us to be extra vigilant about what happens around us when we use them. I’m not saying that I could have avoided the incident along EDSA if I were more vigilant. I’m not saying that Tara wouldn’t be fighting for her life now were we able to spread the gospel of road safety before her birthday (although it would have been nice if she didn’t have to suffer at all). I think, in fact, that all these incidents had to occur one after the other so that the message could be delivered in a much stronger manner. We’re at the forefront of a movement that pushes for safer streets. And all these crazy occurrences that seem to be roadblocks are mere means to a greater end (yes, I believe in my heart that Tara will make it through just fine).

It’s true, we need more efficient law enforcement and local government coordination to help make our streets safer. But criminal elements can also be stopped (or at least significantly slowed down) with vigilance. Our most effective means of being safe out on the roads is making ourselves aware – aware of criminals’ modus operandi, aware of the proper rules and regulations, aware of our rights.

So you road users out there really ought to take extra care out in the streets. Whether you’re a driver, passenger, commuter or pedestrian, there are several ways that criminal elements can victimize you. Keep your eyes peeled, be mindful of everything that occurs around you and know at all times where the nearest outpost of uniformed authorities can be found. Watch out for yourself and watch out for each other. It’s the most basic thing we can do to keep ourselves safe from the next crazy modus operandi.

Here are some of your Backseat Driver reactions from the past couple of weeks…

Long freight carriers should not be allowed within city streets during busy hours. They are traffic obstructions. – 09178331934

Scrap the 8 and other special plates. Issue instead “o2san” plates for our forgetful Public Servants and see if anybody else will use them. – 09202664571

Bakit mayayabang ang mga convoy? Grabe, I have trauma already whenever I hear a convoy coming because of those stupid politicians. – 09228622669

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.)