Traffic lessons from Sydney

The nerve of the driver of the Pajero who beat the red light. The Makati traffic enforcer flagged down the driver but he (or she?) quickly sped away. Is it because we have no respect for authorities anymore, or there is an absence of fear for the consequences of our actions? How can we forget Robert Blair Carabuena who slapped an MMDA traffic enforcer? 

During my last trip in Sydney, my barkada Jen crossed the intersection on a yellow light. She was quite worried to receive a traffic violation ticket, not from any traffic enforcer because there was no one around, but in her mail! There are red light cameras in Sydney which monitor and record traffic violations. The system is very simple, and more importantly, it works. 

Thus, remains the question: How can things be better off in another country, and not in the Philippines? Why can we be chaotic in one place, and disciplined in another? In my humble opinion, it’s because the system makes us comply with the rules, or else… 

Many times we end up frustrated comparing the traffic situation, the bureaucracy, among others in the long list of observations we see in another country, but looking at the brighter side, we can also adopt tried-and-tested formulas in the Philippines.

Here are simple ideas that I discovered in Sydney that might solve some of our everyday frustrations, like traffic and vehicular accidents. 
Aside from no-physical-contact apprehension, another system that can be adopted to help lessen vehicular accidents is the “Responsible Service Alcohol” card. My cousin Chris, who works in a hotel in Sydney, tells me that when a driver figures in an accident and is found under the influence of alcohol, the police investigates all the parties that may have been a factor to the incident. Who served the driver too much alcohol? Even valet attendants are investigated if they give the keys to the car or anyone who may have drank too much.

When we were in Darling Harbor on a Friday night, we saw a woman obviously wasted. But those who partied were keen on having one person sober to drive or suffer the consequence of getting caught.

Most of our local establishments do have signages like “This establishment does not serve alcohol to minors.” But when a brawl results out of drunkenness, the bar that served alcohol is not questioned. We let out a big sigh that we cannot penalize minors, and what has happened to the one that sold alcohol to them. And it’s not merely serving liquor to minors, but serving too much alcohol to anyone, that we ought to be concerned about. 

Take for example the news item of two sexy actresses who hit each other in a bar, obviously drunk, or the group of women who beat each other up in Baguio City. Nakakahiya! 

Sydney laws ensure that everyone is held accountable for each other, even bars and restaurants take serving liquor very seriously. When we had dinner at a burger restaurant in Sydney, a signage caught my attention in one of the shelves: “Just for you to see, no touch because our permit not in yet.” Behind the sign were rows of liquor on display. What’s with selling one beer to a customer? Will they get caught? Because a system is in place, people are made aware of the rules and they follow them even without authorities watching. 

I wonder how difficult it was to enforce the law in Australia which began as a land of convicts. Or was it easier to enforce it because they had a clearer sense of what was against the law and got penalized if they erred? 

(E-mail me at [email protected] or follow me on twitter @bernadette_ABS.)