Why Do They Do It.....

[RBM]

We have just returned from a nice bike trip around central and southern Negros. 

 

My only gripe, apart from some of the local driving habits plus pedestrians crossing without looking is.....

 

The DPWH have at last completed a beautiful concrete two lane highway between Moises Padilla turnoff and  and La Carlota highway.. Its a wonderful motor cycle  ride, nice sweeping curves and some lone straights where can speed if desired. We first traveled this a couple of months ago and loved it. Wonderful views and lots of beautiful Mt Canloan national park nature.

 

Couple weeks ago returned after an excellent lunch at Canlaon. Sadly a fair percentage of this wonderful new road road has now been reduced to one lane.....Why...because the locals have taken it upon themselves to use half the road for drying rice....

 

For the motorcyclists members they will understand the feeling of coming around a beautiful sweeping curve and suddenly the road is gone. Well covered in rice and in most cases large rocks protecting it.

 

After the millions spent constructing this, the years of inconvenience during the construction phase how can this be allowed.

 

Yes its not uncommon, have encountered it before, not  to this degree and the fact its often just around a bend....Does it take a death to stop it....Perhaps head of the DPWH is also a rice farmer.....  

[OnMyWay]

We have just returned from a nice bike trip around central and southern Negros. 

 

My only gripe, apart from some of the local driving habits plus pedestrians crossing without looking is.....

 

The DPWH have at last completed a beautiful concrete two lane highway between Moises Padilla turnoff and  and La Carlota highway.. Its a wonderful motor cycle  ride, nice sweeping curves and some lone straights where can speed if desired. We first traveled this a couple of months ago and loved it. Wonderful views and lots of beautiful Mt Canloan national park nature.

 

Couple weeks ago returned after an excellent lunch at Canlaon. Sadly a fair percentage of this wonderful new road road has now been reduced to one lane.....Why...because the locals have taken it upon themselves to use half the road for drying rice....

 

For the motorcyclists members they will understand the feeling of coming around a beautiful sweeping curve and suddenly the road is gone. Well covered in rice and in most cases large rocks protecting it.

 

After the millions spent constructing this, the years of inconvenience during the construction phase how can this be allowed.

 

Yes its not uncommon, have encountered it before, not  to this degree and the fact its often just around a bend....Does it take a death to stop it....Perhaps head of the DPWH is also a rice farmer.....  

 

Same thing on National Hwy (MacArthur) on the way to Baguio.  Traffic was bad during construction of the nice new concrete, then it is done and there is rice drying on it or vehicles parked on it.

[jon1]

Yes that is one of the major hazards of riding a bike in the hinterlands. You always have to be cautious even on slight rises where you can't see the road ahead. 

[Jack Peterson]

how can this be allowed.

 

Basically RBM it is because it is allowed. Pure and simple and as already stated, it will take a death to bring it Home BUT it never does does it? :rolleyes: 

 

JP :tiphat:  

[jpbago]

Allowed or not allowed. There is no difference as there is no enforcement. People just do what they want with no consideration for others.

[Dave Hounddriver]

.Does it take a death to stop it

 

The interesting is:  Death changes nothing here.  Life is cheap and when your time is up then rice or bullets make no difference.  Its just the mindset here and my advice to all visitors would be to understand that their lives here, while valuable to themselves and their relatives back home, do not mean any more than a dog's life to local people, politicians and law enforcement.

 

Sometimes politicians will talk the talk but death only starts the blame game.  I have been reading the local paper about the investigation of the deaths of the police officers raiding the MILF in Mindanao.  There are too many articles to search and link them all so I suggest reading a real newspaper but here is what I got out of it:

 

President says its the fault of the media for reporting stuff like this that has his approval rating going down and he was not involved.

MILF says the had to kill those cops as the cops broke the unofficial cease fire and if the cops had killed them it would be a 'human rights violation'

A senator is being kicked out for leaking the news that the cops were having a drinking party the night before the raid as the senate had decided to keep that private and that it had nothing to do with them getting killed.

 

Ya can't make this stuff up!

[Thomas]

 

Why Do They Do It.

Because it make their rice drying much easier    :)

It's common in "all" rice farming districts.

[Jack Peterson]

Because it make their rice drying much easier    It's common in "all" rice farming districts.

 

 

Ah OK! So I guess if the Rice owner or one of his lakeys gets knocked over, it will be the drivers fault. because I reckon that might be common also my friend.

 

But But But its OK, the Driver Will be a Foreigner as the Filipinos would have expected him to be around a blind Corner . Silly Jack for not thinking that.  :dance: The Farmer gets quick dried Rice and someones Family get a Funeral paid for. Hmmmmmmmmmm Such is life methinks.

 

JP :tiphat:

 

Goodnight all, time for some Shuteye. :rolleyes:  :morning1: Cocoa time.

[JJReyes]

Farmers need a way to dry their newly harvested rice. Using an electric or gas heater system is prohibitively expensive. I am okay with their taking over national highways for post harvest drying. It's seasonal.

 

In the good old days, the roads near the ocean and large lakes like Laguna de Bay were also used to dry fish. Did it stink! The problem with fish drying is this is a year round activity. They eventually banned the practice. Fishermen now use bamboo racks.

[Larry45]

Hard to understand why they do anything here RBM, but they always have their reasons.  Touring around Camotes, we dealt with the same problems, but not in such a precarious position as yours.  That kind of thing really makes you shake your head. I grew up riding and racing bikes, and I wish it was less risky to ride one here.  I borrowed an XRM a few years ago and took the wife for a ride around Leyte, but on the way back we ended up clipping a dog (chasing a car going the other way) and we did a nose wheelie for about 10 meters.  Wife was impressed we didn't die, but being a family now, we just ride tricycles these days.:)