Pinoy against the foreigners

Filipinos and Americans (or maybe Europeans) have greatly differ in their observance of traffic signs.

Crossing the road on my way home, I usually use the pedestrian lanes because it is for pedestrians. In there, a person should feel safe from speed maniacs. Drivers are expected to give way to pedestrians (within a reasonable time) when they cross the street using the pedestrian crossing. And one Caucasian driving a silver Toyota observed this. He stopped, waited for us to cross before proceeding. If it were a fellow Pinoy (most but not all), you, the pedestrian, would have waited for him, the driver of an expensive car, to pass before crossing.

For educated drivers who practice what they have learned, a pedestrian crossing tells him/her to give people ample time to cross the street before proceeding. For some educated drivers who forget their lessons after they get their licenses and most self-educated driver, a pedestrian lane represents an obstacle where you need to align your wheels between the white lines and cross it without letting your tires touch the paint.

This event reminds me of a joke about how Filipinos and foreign tourists view the traffic light.

For foreigners, green means go, yellow means slow down, and red means stop.

For Pinoys, green means go, yellow means go faster, and red means go for it!

Traffic management

I am glad that schools are closed today. I was able to get to work in record time. This made me remember the last time I was held back by heavy traffic by inconsiderate drivers.

Saint Paul Drive is a road in Pasig City that is commonly used by drivers going from C-5 to Meralco Avenue. Traffic in this road gets heavy during school days. It is specially heavy early in the morning when students are dropped off by their parents, at noon when primary school pupils are picked up, and in the afternoon when the rest are picked up.

This is usually managed by making the traffic flow in one direction only. And it works.

Unfortunately, the four-lane road gets obstructed just before the entrance gate up to the exit gate. It is in that area where private vehicles collect before entering the gate and where they spread out when they exit.

I thought that to better manage the flow of traffic and allow those just passing by to go through the area without hindrance, the four lanes must be divided.

The two lanes right beside the school perimeter can be used for the qeueu of parents of Paulinians. And the far lanes be kept open for non-Paulinians who just want to get through to Meralco and on to Megamall.

However, some of the more rich and spoiled parents want to do things their way and it jams the flow.

It is early in the morning and heads get hot due to the jam. Well, leave it to the rich to get the roads filled. :)

Travel time - what do jeepney drivers know

Just this evening on my way home, I got to sit right behind the driver and his shotgun rider. This is the evening after the morning transport strike. Early that day, majority of public utility vehicles did not go out to ferry passengers.

While I was whiling away my time for the more or less 30-minute ride, I heard the driver and his buddy talk. The topics were as follows:

1. Transport strike
2. Economy in Mainland China and its effect of the Chinese
3. "Buddy's" trip in the morning.

1. Transport strike

They discussed that the transport strike was effective. The strike was organized to voice out their frustration at the multiple ticketing scheme being used, particularly in the metropolis (Manila).

Both agreed that the strike was successful and that with a small sacrifice, they can have their resentments heard. On another note, they talked about the village patrol car that volunteered to ferry passengers still stranded that evening.

2. Economy in Mainland China and its effect of the Chinese

During the course of their discussions, they changed their topic to the effect of the economy in Mainland China on the Chinese.

"Buddy" told the driver that Chinese economic policies have severe effect on the Chinese. Because of this, those Chinese who can afford opt to leave the country and settle somewhere else. They also noted that most Filipino-Chinese own a successful business here in the Philippines.

Driver narrated that the Chinoys owe their success to the support of other Chinoys. He said that they help out each other in times of need. An example, he said, is when a Chinoy businessman goes bankrupt, other Chinoys help out so he can start over. But there is a limit to this help, he adds. He even said, "See-ke, ee-kao ak-yen too-long. Pe-lo pak ee-kaw loo-ke pa oo-let, aa-koo wa-la na ma-ka-wa."

3. "Buddy's" trip in the morning.

"Buddy" told the driver how happy he was with his trip that morning. He said that the traffic was so light and the passengers are overflowing. He added that he can do just two trips and his income will be fine for the day.

Well, until next trip.

Traffic woes: the pedestrian crossing

On my way to UP, I had to cross a pededtrian lane to get to the jeepney stop. This lane bears white lines perpendicular to the direction the pedestrians take and a solid line parallel to that direction.

With my limited knowledge of traffic signs, I know that straight lines on the road mean that vehicles must remain on their side of the road for the entire length of that line and broken lines mean they can go from one side of the lane to the other cautiously.

Applying this principle in pedestrian lanes, I surmise that the two solid lines on either side of the pedestrian lane means vehicles must stop for pedestrians.

Alas, it does not hold true.

In the pedestrian lane that I and other people take to get to the jeepney stop, it is the pedestrians who must give way to the vehicles. While some drivers do stop to let pedestrians cross, most do not.

Is is because the drivers believe that they have the right of way because they are enclosed in a metal shell running at 20 kilometers an hour and we are not?

Is it because nobody has been seriously convicted of reckless driving resulting to severe physical injuries? In fairness to the authorities, some have. Except that those convicted are the poor careless-drivers-trying-to-making-ends-meet while the rich ones with fancy cars and next-to-nothing-road-safety-seminar-compliance get off the hook.

Or is it because licensing in this country is so easy? To get a license in our poor suffering country, all you got to do is pay up extra to take a written exam using an already-answered-test paper, and drive a car forward and backward.

Lots of new cars flood into this country. We do not only lack roads to accommodate all these vehicles, we also lack drivers who know how to use those roads.

Good samaritan: usiseros strike back

Two nights ago, I got to play the part of a good Samaritan.

I was waiting for a ride home when I suddenly noticed a buri hat (similar to a cowboy's had) fly off a speeding jeepney. The unfortunate owner must have asked to driver to stop in the middle of the street but was not heard or the hat was too precious to him that he jumped off the rear exit of the vehicle without waiting for it to stop.

A body in motion stays in motion, is a law in physics. So when the guy made contact with the pavement, his feet are not the only one that made contact with it but his legs, hips, back, shoulders and probably his head also did. The poor man tumbled on the asphalted road and laid inert. Since I was already in the scene, I moved in to help.

Luckily, an MMDA (Metro Manila Development Authority) enforcer on his way home stopped to assist. I waved the traffic away from the injured man while other came to help. And of at least ten people there, only four of us were really helpful, the rest, there to discuss what had happened.

The homebound enforcer and I tried to assist the victim and checked if he is okay. He did not speak but he was aware of his situation. Another enforcer came along and called the jeepney driver back to bring the guy to a nearby hospital while another man took over the traffic management. All the rest, talking and watching.

In fairness, they may not know what to do at that time but are willing to help. At the least, they created a cordon around the victim that guided traffic out of the way.

Alas, the uzis struck again. Cars and jeeps and buses and motorcycles slowed their pace. It must be to avoid bumping at each other but also to have a look at what's happening. Most may have felt pity at the man and some may have come up with their own versions of what happened and drove off.

About 15 minutes after he fell, the man was loaded on to the jeep he fell from and was rushed to the hospital. Three guys accompanied him including the second enforcer while the rest went our separate ways.

The traffic is heavy

There is traffic and there is heavy traffic.

In my country, when people say it's traffic, they mean heavy traffic.

I found out from my high school English teacher that the proper term is "heavy traffic" when the vehicles crawl inch by grueling inch along a city street. She also told us that traffic means movement of something along a predetermined path to a destination or from a source. So when we say, "It's traffic," what we really mean is that the traffic heavy.

So, mga pinoy, matrapik talaga sa EDSA kasi maraming sasakyan ang dumadaan. Pag walang trapik sa kalsada, ibig sabihin nun (1) nasa probinsya ka at walang sasakyan kasi hatinggabi na o (2) nasa siyudad ka pero Biernes Santo kaya walang bumibyahe.