CITOM experimenting with the traffic lights

CEBU, Philippines - If you noticed yesterday that all traffic lights in most intersections of Cebu City streets seem to be not working, it was on purpose.

Starting yesterday, traffic lights in 23 major intersections will not be made functional during peak hours as part of an experiment to improve synchronization.

Cebu City Traffic Operations Management Operations Chief Jonathan Tumulak said traffic lights will just be “flashing” from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

“Ang atoa ani is manual ang pag-control sa traffic, mag-base ta sa mga enforcers nga nag-man sa intersections,” he said.

He said that the main purpose of the experiment is for CITOM to calculate better when the traffic lights should turn green or red in relation to the volume of vehicles that should be accommodated within the span of a street from one traffic light to the next.

CITOM has noticed that the distance between traffic lights are not the same so that it is common for the tail end of a queue to block an intersection because all vehicles have not traveled through yet when the lights turned red.

This often results to a gridlock because motorists of the intersecting road would also close up the space even when the way is barred since their traffic light is already green.

“We can no longer predict accurately when a traffic light should turn red or green based on the volume of vehicles,” Tumulak said in Cebuano.

“Ang atong enforcers, through radio, agdon ang volume sa sakyanan nga gikan sa traffic light A.  Naa poy modawat sa traffic light B and motan-aw pod ngadto sa traffic light C kon bakante na. Dili man gud pareha og sukod ang distansya sa traffic lights,” he added.

Tumulak said the experiment is in response to what Mayor Michael Rama referred to as “traffic crisis” during the holidays in the city, when the volume of vehicles in the streets are expected to rise.

He said the “flashing experiment” will only be applied in 23 of the 38 intersections in the city as they were identified as congested intersections during peak hours.

Tumulak said that he does not know yet how long it would take them to conduct the experiment.

“Wala pa ta kahibawo until when ni, basta kana sigurong ma-normal na ang atong traffic. Kani pod nga experiment maghatag og guide sa CITOM kon unsay buhaton namo sunod,” he said.

He assured there are enough traffic enforcers to man the affected intersections, and that CITOM needs there and the public’s participation for them to map out a better scheme on how to solve the traffic problem of the city.

CITOM is even deploying during the experiment hours those working at the traffic maintenance section and the traffic control office to ensure that the intersections are properly manned.

Meanwhile, Tumulak revealed Rama recently approved the purchase of 15 motorcycles amounting to P1.5 million for trained traffic enforcers.

The 15 motorcycles are just part of the 100 Rama wants to purchase for the enforcers to become effective and efficient in the control and management of the city’s traffic situation.

Tumulak said they are expecting the 15 motorcycles to be delivered before the third Sunday of January, adding that he was already processing the procurement papers of 75 more motorcycles. — /RHM (FREEMAN)