The void

If there is one area in Bacolod that provides a succinct example of why our roads are so chaotic, it would be the area near a mall in Mandalagan.

You can’t miss the area because aside from the mall, there is also an edifice to lawlessness: Bacolod’s first pedestrian overpass that nobody bothers to use. The overpass was constructed more than a decade ago but it remains unused up to now. A few people use it to cross the road every now and then, and others use it as a homeless shelter, but those who want to cross that busy street generally ignore it. That white elephant pays homage to the inutility of those who are supposed to enforce one simple law and the power of the ignorance of the crowd to legalize jaywalking.

On both sides of the white elephant along Mandalagan that has also become a temple to the gods of jaywalking are supposed to be loading/unloading areas for public utility vehicles. The northbound loading bay gets used because it is right outside the mall but the southbound one that is right at the foot of the pedestrian overpass, has also been ignored. Jeepneys that are supposed to load and unload passengers at the bay do their business along Lacson Street, unnecessarily clogging up the road during rush hour. The worst thing about this situation is that it happens right in front of traffic enforcers.

Another thing that makes the presence of traffic enforcers in that area an indictment of the system is the way the traffic lights are treated. There are two sets of traffic lights near that mall. One set allows left turns into the mall and another allows left turns from the mall but the bottom line is nobody respects those traffic lights. People waiting to turn into and exiting the mall have to deal with inconsiderate drivers who conveniently forget that a red light means stop. This kind of chaos means that the chances of traffic getting really bad in that area is pretty high and those who pass by there regularly will attest that it is one of the first areas for traffic to get really bad in Bacolod.

I often go in vigilante mode and put my car in harm’s way at that intersection just to make a point, “ignorantly” starting my left turn when the light turns green even if the moronic red light beaters still haven’t stopped. Accidents almost happen, tempers flare; dirty fingers are often exchanged when this happens and if you really come to think of it, it is the traffic authority that should be blamed for whatever happens in that area.  This kind of chaos happens at both traffic lights, consistently and chronically and nobody knows why the traffic authorities haven’t done anything about it. Perhaps they are too busy charging jeepney drivers for illegal stickers.

One reason why the stop lights could be so badly beaten in that area is that they are turned on way too early, when the mall is not yet even open and are usually ignored during that time because nobody is entering or exiting the mall anyway. You can imagine how the people who pass through that area begin to think if they start the day ignoring those traffic lights. Of course it matters a lot that enforcement in that area is essentially non-existent but from the point of view of someone who passes that area before 8 a.m. everyday, it is my opinion that whoever thought of turning on the traffic lights even when they are not needed is making the situation worse.

So there we have it: all the basic traffic rules in the book are basically broken every day, every minute along a stretch of road just a couple of hundred meters long. To make things worse, that area has the province’s first and only pedestrian overpass, it has working traffic signals, and it is normally monitored by a host of traffic enforcers.

If the authorities cannot enforce the rules in an area that has all the tools necessary for motorist and pedestrian discipline, how can we expect them to do better in other areas? Is there any hope for the traffic situation to improve if the people in charge cannot take advantage of what should be a model area for traffic discipline and still allow it to become the void?*

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