A firsthand experience

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor NANETTE L. GUADALQUIVER Busines Editor CEDELF P. TUPAS Sports Editor (On Leave) RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

Last Friday morning, at the corner of Rizal-San Juan streets, Senior Inspector Levy Pangue, the head of the Bacolod City Police Traffic Division was run over by four triskads who were trying to avoid traffic enforcers. The irony of this situation is just too difficult to ignore.

The traffic chief is run over by not just one, but four trisikads who were running away from traffic enforcers who it turns out were not even intending to apprehend them anyway. Unregulated trisikads have long been the source of many complaints, both from motorists and pedestrians, but for the longest time, the authorities have been turning a blind eye to their continued operations.

There have been instances of token apprehensions and seizures of unregistered trisikads or of those plying illegal routes, but consistency has long been a problem of traffic authorities and the primary reason why these violators are quick to return to their old ways after a few days of laying low.

The trisikad is not the problem, they have a proper place in the overall traffic scheme of the city if their use were regulated properly, which should be limited to side streets and areas not accessible to jeepneys. The same goes for jeepneys, which wouldn't be such a nuisance to others on the road if their drivers can just limit the loading and unloading passengers to proper areas, and not just anywhere which unfortunately for most motorists include intersections, corners, and even the middle of the road.

The problem here is the attitude towards traffic rules, which are being broken everyday by drivers who do not see a traffic authority that is serious in maintaining discipline in the streets of the city.

Now that the Traffic Chief himself has had the firsthand experience of being personally victimized by these unregulated nuisances, sustaining bruises in his arms, legs, and ego, we hope that the City Police Traffic Division uses this incident as motivation to take enforcement of traffic rules and regulations more seriously and with more consistency this time around, not just in the immediate vicinity of the scene of the accident, but in all the streets of the city as well.*