Last month alone, a car dealership in Negros Oriental was reported to have sold 100 cars. A few years back, an average of 70 new motorcycles was registered daily at the Dumaguete Land Transportation Office alone.
The numbers are scary, as they are. We have more vehicles added daily to our already-congested roads. No new roads are being built. And worse, everyone likes to drive into and park in the downtown area.
The result is mayhem. Two-lane roads become four lanes, not to mention the ubiquitous motorcyclists and tricycle drivers who prefer to overtake from the wrong side of the road (which is where the passengers are, after all).
Motorcycles take up parking spaces meant for four-wheeled vehicles, as spaces reserved for motorcycles are overflowing. Occasionally, one may find a traffic aide writing a ticket for a parking violation. The penalty is a measly P50.00 — really, not enough to stop anyone from repeating the violation.
Dumaguete has become an unpleasant City to drive in, more so, to find parking. And all these traffic experiments, like a truck ban to take effect five days from now, are being revised and revised, like we didn’t spend years studying traffic.
We know the problem but we realize it’s politically harmful to fix it; it’s like realizing there’s an elephant in the room, and yet, no one’s talking about it.
The City is on the right track with its long-term solution to decongest the City by transferring City Hall outside of the commercial district. But we also need short- and medium-term solutions.
Something has to be done about the traffic with the same speed that new vehicles are being added to our streets. We should try out-of-the-box solutions to fit the Dumagueteño temperament, and culture (where everyone seems to think he is exempt from the rules).
The City will be doing itself a big favor by delegating the traffic problem to a Traffic Board which will have representatives from business, academe, and government, that will be semi-independent of the Mayor’s influence.
That way, the Mayor and other elected officials will not suffer a political setback should push come to a shove.
It’s time to bite the bullet. Let’s address the traffic problem before we see road rage become the norm.
See related story: Bizmen buck truck ban
