6 Ridiculous Practices of Filipino Pedestrians that Causes Traffic!
“Time is Gold” but not when you’re on the road!
Why? Because most of our valuable time are being wasted when we’re on the road because of the never-ending traffic in the Philippines.
On my previous blog I have tackled the Top 4 Driving Habits That Contribute to the Chaotic Traffic in the Philippines. Now, let me dwell on with the other contributors of traffic not only in Metro Manila but all over the country.
Some studies says that one main reason of traffic in the Philippines are the large numbers of car on the road. But come to think of this, comparing the number of cars to the number of commuters in the country,
I can say that the number of commuters will totally outnumbered the quantity of vehicles.
This only means that the road is also dominated by pedestrians. In Philippine setting, they say walking will bring you faster to your destination rather than riding a car, because of traffic. They also said that walking will also lessen traffic because it will lessen the number of cars on the road.
All of these were hoax! I am telling you, you will realized for yourself after I presented to you these 6 reckless practices of pedestrian that did nothing but worsen the traffic in the Philippines.
1. Pedestrians are not using pedestrian crossings.
(Photo from: http://www.jalgsi.ee/)
Pedestrian lanes are all over the roads, but it seems that these lanes are very much precious, because people don’t want to step on them. Most of time pedestrians chose to ignore the ped xing considering that it’s there near them. It’s really hard to identify their reason behind this practice. The most ironic part was, they even cross on road with “No Crossing” or “No Jay Walking” signages.
2. Pedestrians are not following traffic rules.
(Photo from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFbpXDgghdA)
If there are drivers who beat the red light or not following traffic light rules in general, so do pedestrians. Traffic lights are scattered almost in every corners of the road, because traffic lights are the easiest way to mitigate traffic. But it’s very disappointing to see pedestrians who don’t know how to follow the simple rules of these traffic lights, knowing that these are implemented, not just for the traffic but for the safety of the pedestrians as well.
3.Pedestrians are not using overpass.
(Photo from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFbpXDgghdA)
Overpass were designed to give the pedestrians a special passageway going to the other side of the road. But for some reasons, they are having fun playing chasing game with the cars, and putting their life at risk.
4.Pedestrians are not using designated sidewalks.
(Photo from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFbpXDgghdA)
Aside from the pedestrian lanes and overpasses, sidewalks were also placed to on some major thoroughfare, to avoid pedestrians contributing to traffic, and most especially for their safety. But the funny part was, pedestrians were still trying to dominate the car lanes.
5. Pedestrians are using cellphones/gadgets while crossing the roads.
(Photo from: http://www.thenational.ae/uae/pedestrians-and-smartphones-are-a-bad-combination)
Yes let’s admit it we are all tech savvy! But as they said, “knowledge should always come with great responsibility.” It’s very much distinct that if we will walk around, all you can see are people holding their smartphones while walking on side roads or sidewalks. This might sound trivial, but it contributes a lot to the flow of the traffic, and worst case is, it might put our live to danger.
6.Pedestrians are sometimes not observant and aware of their surroundings
(Photo from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNCazk0aEEg)
There are some instances that we became absent minded, that we tend to be obnoxious pedestrians along the road. Some are carrying stressful things on their mind and caused them to be inattentive while crossing the roads. This might all lead to accidents or traffic interruptions.
Watch the video from Klipp.TV, showing how filipino pedestrians misbehave on the road.
Weather we just pedestrians, we also need to be responsible in observing the traffic rules. We might all have our reasons why we chose to disobey the laws, but as always “Laws are laws,”.
We cannot excuse ourselves from them. You cannot say that you are unaware of the existing laws or rules, because as the saying goes “Ignorance of the law excuses no one.”
As pedestrians, we should also have our share toward the campaign reducing the traffic of our country.
Start being responsible! Share this blog and be able share awareness to people. Start being a responsible pedestrian of our roads!
And I agree that we need to change the mindset of the Filipino pedestrian.
To encourage pedestrians to cross only at designated crossing points, we have to make sure they can do so safely and conveniently.
This means that the Traffic Management Group have to treat pedestrians as part of the overall traffic scheme. Enforcers have to see them, and manage them in the same way they manage traffic of vehicles.