BEHIND THE SCENES

Alfred P. Dizon
Traffic woes (once more with feelings)

Sometimes, I couldn’t understand the rationale of Baguio officials in crafting and implementing traffic rules.

One time, I parked along Mabini St. at the left side of the road (near car park) around 5 p.m. to talk to somebody. When I came back 10 minutes later, the front number plate was gone. So I parked the car on the other side of the road and went inside the Cospal Building to finish my business.

Around 15 minutes when I came out, the rear plate disappeared. The cops did it faster than lightning. I was scheduled for a trip to the lowlands early the next day and since I couldn’t get the plates that night, I had to travel by bus. When I went to get the plates at the city traffic police office three days later I asked the cops where one could park along Mabini citing my experience.
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One cop said it was bawal (illegal) daw to park along both sides of the road. I was in no mood for an argument so I left. Other cops I later talked to said it was alright to park at the right side anytime of the day or night (if you are facing the University of Baguio) but it was illegal to park at the left side night or day. Now, which is which?

I earlier cited the impracticality of the new traffic rerouting scheme where one has to pass along Session Road to Gov. Pack Road, Convention Center, then back to the Pacdal Road and how lengthy this way is and a waste of fuel. But then, if seems, nobody among our friends in the city government is listening.

Come to think of it, it you want to go down to Session Road from SM, you have to pass through Gov. Pack Road up near the Victory Terminal going to Camp John Hay, return and pass near the Dept. of Interior and Local Government and Bureau of Internal Revenue Offices, down to the Pacdal Road, up the YMCA, turn near the Cathedral and down Session. That is at least 2-3 km. The past years, one could just get down from the former Pines Hotel site (now SM) in two minutes to Session.
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I wouldn’t mind if I transact business everyday at the DILG and BIR offices but then, that is not the case since I’m no big shot. If you observe, most time of the day, there is heavy traffic going up Session than down. Maybe, it is high time that road intersection which was closed adjacent to Assumption Road should be opened for vehicles which go to Assumption so they wouldn’t contribute to more traffic below the post office loop.

At night, there are a lot of taxis which double park from the Mandarin Restaurant down to Mercury Drug at the base of Session Road. The line of taxis look like one huge train if one looks at these from a distance. Private vehicles often have a hard time squeezing in these taxis so they could park at the roadside parking area. You try squeezing in and a hot head of a taxi driver could maul you like what they nearly did to People’s Journal reporter Ceasar Reyes. If he didn’t show his licensed gun, they could have mauled him to death but that is another story.

Now, for that 4-7 p.m. no parking rule along Session. I guess, this is overkill since with the four-way traffic up and down Session, the roadside parking areas are vacant and vehicles usually don’t pass through these except to park for a while. Maybe, our councilors could also rescind this rule since this is contrary to the spirit of just utilization of public roads.
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As we proposed earlier, there should be a public hearing to discuss traffic problems so solutions could be instituted. (By the way, the city government should also impose more traffic signs where one could park, unload or pass as a lot of drivers, particularly those who don’t reside in Baguio get confused over the jigsaw puzzle that is the rerouting scheme.

As one Manila visitor quipped in front of Luisas Restaurant around 4:30 p.m.: “Eh di saan na kami puedeng mag park dito sa Baguio?” One of the media hangers on replied: “Sa SM na lang o kaya sa Cathedral, pero magbabayad kayo. Puede rin sa Convention Center o kaya sa John Hay.” The visitor could only shake his head. It seems we’re back to the days when Jadewell was still around.

On a welcome note, it is good that new city police director Wilfredo Franco is holding dialogues with public utility drivers associations on ways to improve their manners, safety of passengers against criminals, enforcing discipline on city streets, among others.

You see, there are a lot of undisciplined taxi and jeep drivers who knowingly or unknowingly violate traffic rules. They veer in and out without using signal lights. They don’t know how when to give in to a driver in another lane even if it would cause traffic. There are a lot more but this could suffice for now.

It is for these reasons that Franco could urge city officials for a public hearing on traffic so a more updated and scientific approach could be done to solve the city’s traffic woes. As of this time, I feel like I’m Asiong Aksaya every time I’m in Baguio. I have these tiny beads of perspiration every time I see the fuel gauge alarmingly down.