The road has been used for many purposes throughout history. We have heard the phrase “all roads lead to Rome.” This is in reference to the road via Apia which was one of the most famous roads in antiquity. Its principal use was for moving troops throughout the Roman Empire. The Mayas and the Aztecs also maintained extensive road systems and trails which were primarily used to deliver communications.
Today, the road is used for other purposes but mainly to transport commercial goods and people. The sophistication of the design of many highways and freeways is something to behold.
The autobahn of Germany which was started before the Second World War is a wonder in its design and construction. There is no speed limit when one drives along the freeway. Everything is electronically controlled. If there is congestion, there would be no need for traffic enforcers. The computers can handle the problem. This is so because drivers there have discipline.
It was not always like this. At the dawn of the motor vehicle, there was a need for a man with a red flag giving warning to people that a motor vehicle is passing through. Traffic lights as we know them today (and which are a mere suggestion to many Filipino drivers) was first installed in 1914. Road islands and the painting of the road soon followed.
When we travel abroad today, we cannot help but be impressed by the discipline of the motoring public which is difficult to find here. In spite of the many attempts of our traffic authorities to improve road efficiency, their attempts have generally failed or at best, achieved minimal results. We see this in our efforts to clear the Balintawak public market and Baclaran. Clearing operations are always being undertaken but after a while, the vendors come back. Inevitably, traffic authorities resort to the usual solution of adding more traffic enforcers.
I do not know whether the public realizes that we cannot put a traffic enforcer in every road intersection. At some point, we must develop a disciplined motoring public that will not require too many traffic enforcers. This will certainly be a huge struggle because it is not easy to change the driving culture of Filipino drivers. But change we must.
In any other country around the world, the road is exclusively used for motor vehicles. In this country, we know that the road has many uses. In our highways, the road is often used to dry palay. In places where the two-lane highway has been widened, heavy trucks are often seen parked along the road causing accidents because many parts of our highway system are not lighted. In urban centers like Metro Manila, we are all too familiar how many of our roads are used especially in the inner city. Some of these are the road being used for sports because of the lack of open spaces.
Basketball courts abound in many parts of the Metro area. The road also is sometimes used as a funeral parlors for weeks because of the gambling that traditionally goes on during wakes. This is not to mention the commerce that goes on in our roads which our traffic authorities cannot seem to stop. Squatting in our sidewalks is one that also wreaks havoc on the efficient flow of traffic in our road system. Add the fact that public service vehicles like jeepneys use the road as loading station and we can understand that no matter what the MMDA does, it never seems to succeed.
Private vehicle owners who do not have off street parking and park on the road only makes the problem worse. As of 2015, there were 2.5 million vehicles registered in Metro Manila whose road system has been static for many years at about 5,000 kilometers or vehicle density of about 500 vehicles per kilometer. With this, traffic should be at a standstill. Yet, traffic is still moving—albeit very slowly. At certain hours of the day especially towards midnight, motorists can even increase travel time which goes to show that traffic authorities with the help and cooperation the motoring public, can improve the efficiency of the road system. But as I have often written in the past, everyone wants a quick solution to the problem.
Unfortunately, there is no such thing. Adding 10,000 more traffic enforcers will also not do the trick. But hard work and public cooperation will. Amending R.A. 4136 otherwise known as the Land Transportation Traffic Code of 1964 to conform to the realities of today’s motoring conditions is a must. The current law is now archaic. A no-nonsense program to finally clear road and sidewalk obstruction permanently must to be undertaken. I know people would simply shrug their shoulders and say here we go again but there really is no other choice.
The construction of new roads, be it above ground or at grade, is too slow to accommodate the burgeoning vehicle population. Not being a sociologist, I cannot claim to know why traffic authorities cannot clear the roads permanently and why the public seem to tolerate this practice. There must be some kind of explanation why for instance bus drivers in spite of knowing that it is prohibited to load and unload passengers at the entrance of a bridge, still do and passengers also still insist on boarding and alighting on bridge entrances. We must therefore attempt to change the driving and motoring culture of Filipinos because until it is done, Metro Manila will continue to be condemned as having one of the worst traffic and driving conditions of any major metropolitan city in the world.