One Tama Blog

Aside from the sheer volume of vehicles and tight roads, there are two main reasons to heavy traffic in Metro Manila: the unpredictability of roads, and bad driver discretion.

 

I was inspired to write this entry by my 2.5 hour (minimum) daily commute to and from the office, an ordeal forced upon me by both reasons mentioned above.

 

Road Predictability

 

The first problem, the unpredictability of roads, is beef we will have to take up with the MMDA to some extent. It seems like they deem us appropriate test subjects for their radical solutions; but trial and error is just not well-suited for traffic management.

 

We all have to be somewhere at specific times, and our ability to meet these commitments hinge on our ability to anticipate the time it takes to get there. Regardless of how long that is—10 minutes or 3 hours—what matters is that we know. We can then adjust our preparations around that estimate. Trial and error defeats that predictability.

 

Further, traffic exhibits a learning curve to changes in roads and routes. Frequent revisions to traffic schemes confuse drivers, effectively stranding us in the lower strata of that learning curve perpetually.

 

Don’t get me wrong though, I appreciate the MMDA’s pro-activity and creativity. I commend them for solutions which do work. But U-turn slots, one-way roads, and street names (!!!) just cannot change every 2 months because someone thought it might work. There has to be a science in solving flow problems; a systematic way of choosing the best option among many based on simulations, numbers, and models. I am confident we have the people and technology to do it, we just have to take that first step in applying them to traffic management.

 

Driver Discretion

 

It is monumentously more difficult to apply science to solving our traffic problems, however, if drivers continue to exhibit flawed discretion on the road. For as much as drivers rely on road predictability, traffic management relies on sound stakeholder discretion.

 

As drivers, we are expected to keep our lanes, follow traffic signs, drive at the right speed, and not counter-flow. As commuters, we are expected to load and unload only on designated areas. As pedestrians, we are expected to cross at the appropriate time and place. If we fail any of these, the science of traffic management collapses and the result is inefficiency.

 

This, then, is the reason behind following traffic rules. Not only does the immediate traffic situation depend on it, so does any hope of applying science to find long-term solutions to our traffic problems. Unless we commit to traffic rules, all the numbers, scenarios, and models go out the window and we leave authorities no choice but to employ crude tactics like trial and error.

 

The Chicken and The Egg

 

The problem of which comes first, of course, is an easy trap to fall into. While I posit that responsible drivers are a pre-requisite to the science that will improve traffic management in the future, you can as easily contend that current traffic management leaves you no choice but to break the rules, lest you suffer the inefficiencies of our flawed system.

 

Let me bring it to an everyday context, as an example. Every morning, I find myself waiting in line for at least 15 minutes to get past a 200 meter stretch of road. Meanwhile, to my left, I see cars zooming by as they counter-flow to avoid the wait. I invariably find myself tempted to do the same, most especially on days when I’m running late for work. It is not my fault, after all, that this specific stretch of road bottle-necks into two lanes before meeting an intersection. If the system cannot create a solution for this wait, why shouldn’t I beat the system and make a solution for myself?

 

The answer is painfully obvious: because someone has to start helping the system now. And because you understand that, though you may not like how it sounds now, it has become your responsibility to be that someone.

 

Exercise good discretion when you drive. Tell your friends and family to do the same. Follow traffic rules, though it may cost you a bit of time and patience. Doing so will empower good-willed and competent people (and believe me, they are out there) to make the systemic improvements we’ve all been yearning for.