Survey: Traffic only a 'birth pain' of progress
ABOUT 90 percent of Dabawenyos consider the currently-experienced heavy traffic as just birth pain towards progress and is just normal for a booming city, said a survey.
In a survey conducted by the University of Mindanao – Institute of Popular Opinion (UM-IPO), some 1,200 random Dabawenyos were asked questions to determine the people’s opinion on the current traffic situation and the various infrastructure constructions happening in the city.
The survey revealed that about 81 percent of the Dabawenyos believe that the constructions are the main factors of the worsening traffic. About half of the population also said that the infrastructures being constructed are for the people’s use and that the inconvenience it is causing now is something they can still personally absorb.
Eighty two percent of those who were asked said the heavy traffic is a “necessary sacrifice”, with 61 percent believing it will even be temporary. It was then followed by a good 75 percent of the respondents who said the current traffic situation is not necessarily caused by the construction but by the vehicles and the riding public.
“It was even noted that the public consider that ballooning number of vehicles and the behavior of the riding public as the cause of the traffic and not the constructions
sprouting around,” said UMIPO director for quantitative studies Adrian Tamayo.
However, about 50 percent of the respondents said the primary causes of the heavy traffic in the city are the traffic lights and other traffic-related systems that are not working well.
The survey respondents also had recommendations for the traffic dilemma of the city particularly on the infrastructure, structural, behavioral, and traffic law.
“Most common suggestions for infrastructure concerns the road – widening of current, construction of coastal and bypass – and that constructions that affect traffic be strictly implemented at night. Structural recommendations include rationalization of street vendor space, reconfiguration of current routes, modernization of public utilities, replacement of jeeps with bus, and requirement of parking space for car owners,” he said.
The public also recommended road discipline to both the drivers and commuters, as well as increased traffic violation penalty in order to make sure traffic violations are really avoided. The survey also revealed that the public would want separate and dedicated lanes for private vehicles, public utility vehicles, and trucks respectively.