Raging wrong on road rage

We are raging wrong against “road rage” every time we treat or talk about it as “isolated incidents.” Stop treating “road rage” simply as a character defect or representation of a bad person with a violent temper because every time we isolate it as such, we forget or dismiss the serious matter of causes and responsibility.

We talk or comment on each incident, the perpetuator or the victim or the status of the case but so far hardly anybody has stepped back to look at the big picture as in what has contributed to the growing number of cases involving “road rage”? Why has “road rage” become part of our modern day reality instead of the rare and isolated incident that it used to be? How serious of a threat is “road rage” to Filipinos on the road? Why do some of these “ragers and haters” even dare to talk down, insult or challenge law enforcers as if they were talking down to their dog? Ultimately, who should be held responsible for it? This is the sort of problem that Congress and the Senate should be investigating and not wasting precious time and lives bickering over the petty politics of quid pro quo impeachment.

Instead of blaming one person or two combatants involved in a “road rage” case (not incident), we should be finding the cause or causes that lead to “road rage.” The fact that many drivers now place a weapon of some kind beside the driver’s seat already tells us that we are a society under threat. Instead of limiting “road rage” to what happens when you combine short/ violent temper with deadly weapons ( Guns- pipes- knives or baseball bats) we should go several steps further.

What caused the confrontation = bad driving behavior. Why do many drivers violate traffic rules and driving courtesy = because they believe and are correct in believing that they can get away with it. They believe no one is watching or will do anything because law enforcement bodies of the government are not doing anything to deliver the message and the fact that “YOU” will be arrested and penalized for breaking road rules or driving like an asshole. In fact they even developed the no contact apprehension/ arrest just to avoid arguments or confrontation = this results in developing a sense of impunity and a sense of entitlement. Many Filipinos, not just drivers even ordinary citizens go around behaving with a sense of entitlement and impunity. We even have special terms for it such as “angas” – “ang lakas ng dating” – “yabang.” People take over the sidewalks, the streets, and park anywhere in anyway they like, especially by flicking their hazard lights. They jaywalk, dump their garbage on the street, piss and spit anywhere they wish or throw out their garbage from a moving vehicle simply because no one will accost them for it or penalize them. That impunity and entitlement eventually extends to their children, their househelp and worst, their drivers and bodyguards and now it has become our national curse.

In contrast, chances are anyone who tries to openly drive like an idiot inside SCTEX, NLEX, SBMA, Clark Freeport, Dasmarinas Village and Forbes Park or the Bonifacio Global City will find themselves tracked down by CCTV cameras, speed radars, and mobile traffic enforcers who will issue you a ticket if not confiscate your license. Of course this does not stop the rich tambay boys at Burgos circle from driving on SLEX because in the first place no one throws puncture nails or flags them down at the toll booth to calculate their “time in” versus distance and because they can afford the petty fines for people with too much money and very little brains and no social responsibility! But their idiotic behavior on the road is merely one of the symptoms of a greater disease of a failed state: failure to enforce the law to the letter.

Starting from the Office of the President, the Cabinet members; DOTr-DILG-DPWH-DTI-DepEd: the agencies; LTO-PNP-LTFRB-Toll regulatory body - LGUs and media: WE ARE ALL TO BLAME. Perhaps it is because individually we all know our sins, our shortcomings as drivers and citizens and because at the end of the day we as humans are resistant to discipline and punishment. Only when we or our loved ones are victimized by a hit and run offender do we go all out on Facebook to hunt down the criminal. Only when all the parking spaces have been blocked off by “NO PARKING – Reserved for tenant” signs on public streets, do we verbalize our protest of such abuse. Are you going to wait for your husband, son, or loved one to be shot, stabbed, or clubbed with a baseball bat before we say: “Enough is enough!! enforce the laws!” No more backing down to protests, welga ng bayan, children of lesser gods or politicians or Pinoys with notions of impunity. Stop singling out motorcycle riders only during the conduct of checkpoints, check other vehicles randomly so drivers know there is now an increased chance of being arrested for carrying a deadly weapon or potential weapon. Enforce vehicle standards for safety and design, take out illegal modifications on mufflers as well as extremely dark tinted front and back windshields that are against the law globally. Between the DTI and the LTO and in cooperation with accessory stores, this can easily be achieved. It is not the individual offenses that matter but the message that laws are once again being implemented. Let us help to put a stop to government trying to please everybody but ending up not doing their job and endangering all of us. Only when there is fear of the law will respect of the law follow.

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