The blocked driveway has become a more common problem for me lately, as the number of occasions that I have been prevented from entering my own home by inconsiderate and ignorant vehicle owners has increased in recent weeks.
My reactions to the situation have been varied, usually depending on my mood. If I am lazy, I might obnoxiously honk the horn until the driveway-blocking owner. If it takes too long, I’d park somewhere nearby, and then get packaging tape to put over the windshield, with a note for the owner. If it is a motorcycle, I might try pushing it out of the way, as carelessly as I can. There are times when I have called the barangay to complain, but I noticed that one thing that never happened was a traffic enforcer or parking attendant coming over to help me out.
These occasions have made me wonder what can be done about this problem, and I am becoming convinced that if the city or barangay cannot assign personnel to monitor the area when it gets busy, which in my case is the school dismissal time of 3-4pm, the most effective solution would be for them to come up with an ordinance that deputizes and equips affected homeowners with the ability to penalize violators.
I would front the cash to pay to have my own set of parking clamps, along with the license from the local government unit to deploy those clamps on any vehicle that blocks my active driveway. That way, any violator gets penalized quickly, and the city or barangay can even have 100 percent of the proceeds of the penalties, after I am reimbursed the cost of the equipment. This way, anyone from my household can attach parking clamps to anyone who blocks my driveway, and then they can ring on my doorbell or call a traffic enforcer to have it removed, after paying the penalty, and hopefully learning the lesson.
Such an arrangement would make for a mutual PPP (public-private-partnership) that addresses the problem of illegal parking which cannot be enforced due to the lack of personnel monitoring the affected areas. In the case of driveway blockers, empowering the owner of the residence of the driveway to clamp violators who will then have to pay the penalty to be unlocked would certainly discourage and prevent future violations, at minimal cost and effort to the LGU, but maximum benefit to the community.
Of course, everything depends on the willingness of the LGU, whether it is the city or the barangay, to come up with the ordinance and a system that assures it works for everyone involved. Rules and limits should be established, leaving no room for ambiguity. Violators should be able to settle their penalties or fines quickly and efficiently, and there should be a system and a team available for the resolution of any disputes. Signs specifying that the particular driveway/area is a deputized clamping area, along with the penalties, will hopefully show that prevention is better than the cure.
The question is if we have the local legislators who are willing to establish the rules, anticipate the issues or problems, and set up an innovation that could work efficiently in preventing these issues caused by inconsiderate neighbors that often plague our communities and become normalized because nobody is willing to address it.
I am realistically not counting on this suggestion being considered by any LGU, especially mine, as it probably requires too much innovative system building that most local legislators are not willing to engage in. It is just something that came to mind after my recent frustrations with coming home to a blocked driveway, where the solution is to move the vehicle yourself if it is possible, call a traffic enforcer to do something, or wait out the bastos person. I just thought that since I am willing to take matters into my own hands, I might as well suggest that my LGU deputize and equip me in my crusade against annoying driveway blockers.
For the LGU, the easiest course of action to deal with complainers like me would be to establish a patrol of the affected area when it is busiest. After all, barangay tanods or traffic enforcers are still voters who can get paid to do the job, and that is something that politicians prefer to do more than establishing systems. One problem with paid patrols is that unlike homeowners or members of the community, they tend to end up just hanging out instead of doing their jobs, which they aren’t really invested in, especially if they see it as just political patronage.
Maybe that is why the problem remains a problem, even if many have already complained about it in the past. As long as our public servants are not directly affected, getting them to act in an innovative and sustainable manner will be a tough ask.*
