In addition to various traffic violations such as illegal parking, another major cause of heavy traffic is the volume of vehicles on the roads. According to the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, 367,000 vehicles traverse Edsa daily. About 180,000 of these are driver-only vehicles or DOVs (“‘Singles’ clogging Edsa side streets,” News, 8/16/18).
In the midst of this traffic crisis, it is selfish and shameless to drive a car without any passenger. For their convenience, drivers of these cars cause the economy billions of pesos and the commuters much suffering.
The government does not have to ban DOVs; the drivers should have the conscience to take the initiative. For everybody’s sake, the right, caring, responsible and patriotic thing to do is to carpool or use public transport, so that one will be part of the solution and not part of the problem.
JORI GERVASIO R. BENZON, joribenzon@gmail.com