Letter to the Editor: RESPECT THE PEDESTRIAN LANE

Calling the ATTENTION of SUPER-VINCE Dizon, Secretary of Transportation. RESPECT THE PEDESTRIAN LANE or, more precisely, CROSSING (abbreviated in road signs as PED XING) needs to be drummed more effectively into the consciousness of Filipino motor vehicle drivers. This is just as important as the DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE and DON'T DRIVE AND TEXT rules for public safety.

I am a retired senior citizen who regularly takes a morning exercise walk (if not raining and flooding) around and outside our small residential subdivision off Naga City, Camarines Sur. Walking outside the subdivision to reach other nearby subdivisions for extended walking involves traversing a highway from Naga's boundary to the next town north which is Canaman. The highway portion I traverse has five clearly marked pedestrian crossings, including one in front of the local public elementary school.

I observe that most motor vehicle drivers do not slow down and stop even when there are clearly visible school children, whether with or without an accompanying adult, waiting to cross the above-said pedestrian lane to and from the school. It is clear that most such drivers are either not conscious enough of the pedestrian crossing rule or worse, know it but do not respect it.

As for the pedestrians, most tend to wait until there is no vehicular traffic going through the pedestrian lane before they cross the lane to the other side. Even the barangay tanod assigned to assist school children crossing that lane does the same thing. Para que pa the pedestrian crossing if pedestrians will just wait till there is no vehicular traffic or for some short breaks or gaps in it before crossing to the other side?

It is clear that such pedestrians and the tanod concerned are either not conscious enough of the pedestrian crossing rule or are simply playing safe given that the oncoming vehicles are not slowing down and stopping. In the infrequent instances that they do slow down and stop in order to give way to pedestrians, it is the latter accommodated pedestrians who usually give signs of thanks to the accommodating drivers, often as if apologetic for interrupting their driving momentum. It is the motor vehicle, not the pedestrian, who is the king of the road in our motor vehicle (esp. car)-biased transport and public highways system.

But the rule is that it is the pedestrian, not the road vehicle, that has the road right of way when the pedestrian is poised to cross and, more so, is actually crossing the pedestrian lane. The full rule of law as found in Sec. 42(c) of Republic Act No. 4136, the Land Transportation and Traffic Code, is this: "The driver of any vehicle upon a highway within a business or residential district shall yield the right of way to a pedestrian crossing such highway within a crosswalk, except at intersections where the movement of traffic is being regulated by a peace officer or by traffic signal. Every pedestrian crossing a highway within a business or residential district, at any point other than a crosswalk shall yield the right of way to vehicles upon the highway."

Both Filipino motor vehicle drivers and pedestrians must acquire -- or more realistically must be made to acquire -- the requisite better consciousness, respect and practice of the said pedestrian crossing rule. That this is a problem in our country but not in many other countries, including our close Southeast and North Asian neighbors, is a sad testament to our lack of traffic discipline as well as management. But it also shows that we can and must do better like our Asian neighbors, whether on "small" matters like respecting the pedestrian lane or on big matters like developing an efficient more pedestrian-friendly modern mass transport system. Calling SUPER-VINCE.

Judge SOLIMAN M. SANTOS, JR. (Retd.)

Canaman, Camarines Sur