My previous article discussed the Bacolod SP proposal to study the feasibility of a pedestrian bridgeway or overpass at the area of the Bata flyover and North Terminal, along with the topic of jaywalking and the need for an audit of the city’s plethora of pedestrian lanes, which seem to have been painted on without any rhyme or reason.
Anyway, I have to point out that the focus on jaywalking might be a good thing but it cannot be the only thing because the problem is a combination of various institutional issues, including the city’s superfluous pedestrian lanes, unusable sidewalks, and widespread illegal parking.
Before jaywalking can be properly enforced, the sidewalks have to be cleared and made usable for all sorts of pedestrians, including those with disabilities. If you come to think of it, the reason why people are walking on the street and not the sidewalk is because they cannot use the latter. Because our public officials do not use sidewalks as they are chauffeured in airconditioned and heavily tinted SUV convoys, most of them need to be told that there are vendors, utility poles, parked cars, construction debris, DIY ramps and steps, and all sorts of obstacles all along most Pinoy sidewalks that render them useless for pedestrians.
If I were God-king of the Philippines, I’d make the country’s local government officials do an annual sidewalk challenge, where they have to walk 2 kilometers from point A to B, on a wheelchair or pushing a baby stroller, on their city’s sidewalks, just so they see just how difficult it is to use it. One rule is that there will be no advance notice of the route so they cannot command their minions to pre-clear it for them. Let’s see them avoid jaywalking while doing that.
Usable sidewalks are critical in preventing jaywalking because people will only cross the street in an unsafe and illegal manner because they cannot get to a pedestrian safely anyway. To do this, LGUs will need to deal with sidewalk vendors, utility companies for their poles and posts, private businesses and car owners who encroach upon it for free parking, along with setting and enforcing a building code for property owners who are currently DIY modifying sidewalks to suit their needs at the expense of the general public. That, my friend, is a lot more work than just passing a wordy resolution demanding traffic officials to enforce the jaywalking law.
Once the sidewalks are clear and usable, then can the proper pedestrian crossings be identified and marked, which should be the job of the city council. The current practice of painting crossings on almost every street corner seems a bit dumb, don’t you guys think? If there are going to be pedestrian crossings almost every 10 meters of Lacson street, then why not save on paint and make its entire length jaywalkable instead? If sidewalks are usable, provided with shade during the day and lighting at night, people won’t mind walking to the properly designated crosswalks. At this point, after the infrastructure and a humane and efficient system has been established, then those that still insist on crossing anywhere they please can and should be apprehended and penalized for jaywalking.
The main problem here is most of our towns and cities are not pedestrian friendly. Jaywalking is but a symptom of the real disease. If we give the townspeople a safe place to walk on, they will not be walking on the road and cross only where it is safe for everyone involved.
SAFER HIGHWAY
On the topic of road safety, I’d like to point out a few unsafe highway issues at the Bacolod-Silay Airport Road which I regularly use.
First would be trucks regularly parking very near the intersection of that highway and the road to the airport… as in practically taking up the corner, which is highly unsafe and obviously a traffic violation, and yet there are law enforcers in that area who don’t see anything wrong with it. WTH?
Second also concerns parked trucks again, along the highway, especially as it approaches the Bata intersection. I don’t get why a government that loves to pour concrete cannot be bothered to put up proper truck stops instead.
Third would be a few areas of the highway that easily and constantly get flooded after heavy rain. I use that road a lot so I know to when and where to watch out for those spots, where vehicles traveling at speed would suddenly slow down and/or swerve to avoid the relatively deep pools of water. But for those who are not so familiar, that is a road crash waiting to happen, when it could be fixed by simply repairing the drainage in the area.
Stay safe guys!*
