Driving at night along C-5 Highway (at least on the southbound lane) any time between 8:45 p.m. and 11 p.m. gives one the impression that truck drivers in the Philippines are either simply ignorant of and/or just do not care about traffic laws and regulations.
The segment I am referring to is that between the Pasig overpass and SLEX. At that time of the night, huge trucks are out and they have a nasty habit of taking the inner and center lanes (rather than the outer lane) despite travelling at slow speeds.
One will also frequently encounter two trucks side by side on the inner and center lanes, travelling at the same slow speed, forcing small vehicles to pass them on the outer lane—the complete opposite of what is required under the most basic traffic regulations!
Worse, many of them are among the most obscene smoke-belchers—to the point that one’s vision is actually obscured when tailing them. Also, many of them have either very poor or missing tail lights.
This is the nightly situation on that road. It is not only inconvenient, but grossly unsafe for motorists.
I call on the authorities concerned to address this serious problem.
—RAFAEL T. AGUADO,
raffyaguado@yahoo.com