Enforce traffic rules to solve Edsa woes

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority General Manager Jojo Garcia defended the “high-occupancy vehicle” policy as the more immediate way to decongest Edsa, adding that waiting for the needed infrastructure that will take years to build is not an option (“MMDA suspends ban on ‘singles,’” Metro, 8/18/18).

He just doesn’t get it. The more immediate solution to the traffic problem in all of Metro Manila has been staring the MMDA in the face all these years—its lack of political will to enforce traffic rules and regulations, especially among bus and jeepney drivers who create choke points. This is what has bedeviled traffic everywhere it is found.

Of what use, indeed, are the multimillion investments the MMDA has plunked down on CCTVs if its personnel, who are supposed to monitor traffic conditions 24/7, are too blind to see the choke points or too dumb to know what to do about them?

The fact is, traffic enforcers are nowhere to be found in these choke points to do their job (because most of them are making “kaway-kaway” in places where they are not needed). What will it take to make the MMDA understand that no-brainer of a solution?

NIMFA RINA RICAFORT, [email protected]