Finally, action against counter-flowing

If the order of Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña to have all types of motor vehicles that counterflow or run against traffic on the opposite lane has not yet been hailed and applauded, it should be. And very loudly. For it is about time that this illegal, reckless, dangerous and inconsiderate practice be stopped and those who do them punished.

The punishment specified by the mayor aside from the impounding of the offending motor vehicles for no less than 30 days will be the imposition of stiff fines on the violators ranging from P3,000 for motorcycles to P15,000 for trucks. These fines, Osmeña said, will serve as storage fees for 30 days of the impounded vehicles. The order is to take effect immediately.

The mayor said he had wanted to be lenient on motorcycles but has discovered, to his dismay, that there are simply just too many abusive drivers who not only disregard traffic rules but also put not only their own lives but the lives of so many others in jeopardy, hence his loss of patience and the issuance of the order. Cebu City Transportation Office operations chief Francisco Ouano said the mayor told him to be strict in enforcing city traffic policies.

If they have not done so already, traffic enforcers and operatives might want to congregate on a few areas notorious for counterflowing motor vehicles, especially during rush hours such as from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. These areas are Katipunan between A. Lopez and Salvador, Happy Valley Road, V. Rama corner M. Velez, Banilad Road, P. del Rosario, M.J. Cuenco, to name a few.

And while our enforcers and operatives are at it, they might want to take a look at notorious No Left Turn areas during specific times that are disregarded by motor vehicles of all types almost all of the time. These areas are at F. Ramos going into Raintree Mall, D. Jakosalem going into Sikatuna, and R. Aboitiz going into Juana Osmeña. The violations occur because drivers ignore the No Left Turn signs in the complete absence of enforcers.

And that brings up another point in this whole issue -the seeming need to hire more traffic enforcers. The way it looks, the enforcers the city has are mainly deployed in major areas. But it has to be considered that, one, Cebu City is now a city where every area is major in every sense of the word; and two, one area where traffic breaks down has an expanding domino effect in all the contiguous. That means no kink in any area can be tolerated.