Traffic rules are anti-poor, says motorcycle riders

[Lee]

Apparently only the rich should follow traffic rules according to some.

Quote

 

IF we listen to all the brouhaha over the recent announcement of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) that they will apprehend motorcycle riders who take shelter from heavy downpours under overpasses, you would think these people are being nailed to the cross and deprived of life, liberty and freedom.

A big chunk of the motorcycle riding community has been at this level of logic for the longest time. Any move to put order on the road that means having to discipline them is met with cries of oppression, anti-poor, discrimination and so much more.

It is as if motorcycle riders should just be allowed to do as they please even if what they do is detrimental to safety and order on the roads. They complain as if their sector are the only ones that have a right on the road and all others do not.

Now, I know of many riders who are responsible and follow the rules and road ethics needed to drive safely and orderly on our streets. Sadly, they comprise a very small portion of the riders we see careening along our roads and highways daily.

And now this!

In the past few days, Facebook video posts showed a group of motorcycle riders parking under an underpass along Quezon Avenue taking over all the lanes except one, the left-most lane.

Now, I say what they did was park illegally and that is exactly what many, majority or most motorcycle riders usually do when the rain pours. They stop their under-bone scooters, put down the bike stand, and began talking to each other.

Motor vehicles behind them need to maneuver to the one lane left free in order to get past these parked riders who do not care about the inconvenience and traffic jam they usually cause.

You could hear one rider in one of the videos shouting at one of the passing cars "eh mababasa kami, kayo nasa loob ng kotse, bakit ba!" (We are getting wet while you are inside a car, so what!)

On one occasion, this type of situation caused a buildup of more than 10 kilometers, all the way to the University of Sto. Tomas from the underpass near Examiner. This took the cars at the tail end of the jam about two hours to get off Quezon Avenue.

From here, the MMDA decided to now strictly enforce an existing law that prohibits motor vehicles (cars, motorcycles, trucks) and pedestrians and ambulant vendors from hanging out on the road under overpasses.

The rule states the sidewalk can be used by pedestrians for cover in heavy downpours but motor vehicles cannot park on the road under these overpasses.

To be sure, the MMDA said motorcycle riders are allowed to stop under the underpasses, take out their rain gear, put them on and then drive away. So, they are not allowed to stay under the underpasses until the rain stops.

Rider groups went to town giving interviews how this rule is oppressive and anti-poor, and the media lapped it up. Even some politicians took the cudgels for these rider groups and said the MMDA is very dictatorial.

These are the same group and people that regularly complain of the chaos and disorder of our roads, some even conducting congressional investigations to find out why.

But really, they are the reason why. These rider group leaders and politicians coddle their followers even if what their followers do are blatantly wrong, and use poverty and oppression as excuses.

And the message that conveys to the public is that for as long as a person is poor, he or she does not have to follow the law, because, "kawawa naman ako!" (I am pitiful).

 

 

Traffic rules are anti-poor, says motorcycle riders (msn.com)