Are we there yet? The greater good
CEBU, Philippines - I had a chat with an old friend a few days ago and we talked about the worsening traffic situation in Cebu. On any given time of any given day, one can now expect to arrive thirty minutes to an hour longer than the normal travel time. The powers that be could argue that this is because of the ongoing road repair works all over the metropolis. But these repairs started earlier in the year. The traffic should’ve been just as bad then as it is now. But it isn’t. In fact, it’s getting so much worse.
Just recently, I’ve had to make trips from Diaper Island City, to the Kapitolyo City, to the Main City, and the Stallion City. No city was better than the other. You get caught in bumper to bumper traffic in even the widest of roads.
My friend and I both agree that this has a lot to do with the lack of willpower and authority shown by the different traffic organizations of each city. Lack of willpower is evident in the many violations that go unchecked by the lazy enforcers manning the streets. How many times have you seen an entire family of six squeezed onto one scooter with only the driver wearing a helmet? And how many times have you seen a traffic enforcer actually flagging them down to apprehend them? See my point?
Regarding lack of authority, we have seen how the majority of the motorists have to grin and bear with the city’s ‘favor’ policy. What is a ‘favor’ policy? For those who had lived under a rock since the renaissance period, the ‘favor’ policy is described as giving special traffic treatment to establishments owned by friends of the powers that be in exchange for a favor or favors that the will be asked for come election time. Without being too specific, let me state an extremely vague example.
In areas with high traffic volume, would you expect or allow vehicles to turn left into an event center located a couple of meters after a flyover? Tough as nails traffic heads would restrict such an act as this would severely hamper the flow of traffic. They would restrict crossing lanes to turn left into the event center and have the patrons of this establishment take alternate routes instead. Unfortunately, what we’ve got on the traffic board are badly bent rusty old nails who would rather implement the ‘favor’ policy than actually think about the greater good.
Many decisions that must be done by the traffic board may not be popular to some, especially to the silver spoon-fed brats. But what the traffic board must understand is that they are public servants and not slaves to the privileged few. The prevailing mindset is that the traffic board would rather inconvenience the hundreds of motorists who ply the streets by allowing Mr. Rich to turn left to his village, instead of him having to travel an extra block and make for free-flowing traffic for the rest of us.
The powers-that-be should learn to make decisions, be they popular or otherwise, for the greater good. Everyone is aware that it used to take a lot of money to win elections. But with social media creating greater awareness, the voting public are a lot smarter. Don’t get me wrong though, many will still accept money-stapled sample ballots that are allegedly released prior to election day, but that will surely vote for the person who made their lives easier for them. And solving our traffic problems would be greatly remembered and appreciated by the voting public.
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