Reining in those motorcycles

BERSALES

My good friend Terry Davenport, no stranger to motorcycles, describes them as the epitome of the Kamikaze pilots of World War II: they zoom past, unmindful of whoever gets in their way, as if on a suicide mission. Terry is no stranger also to the past: the second batch of Kamikaze pilots in WWII history did indeed fly out of the old Lahug Airport one dark and foreboding dawn in October 1944.

But Terry and I are referring to today’s motorcycle drivers who have suddenly sprouted all over the place and who crisscross, counter-flow and turn whichever way they want without nary a care nor an ounce of The other night, I caught up with one who had just caused a traffic jam on A.S. Fortuna Street at 10 p.m. as I was on my way home. This one had swiped a Toyota sedan whose driver immediately got out, hazard lights blinking, while the motorcycle lay in the middle of the four-lane highway.

Last Monday, one driver without any lights simply whizzed by as I was about to make a turn. I had to step on the brakes fast. Unlike other drivers, I always use my signal light some 30 meters ahead and not use it only when I’m about to make a turn (unlike so many uncouth drivers around).

Metro Cebu is now simply overwhelmed with so many of these motorcycles, some serving as “habal-habal” (motorcycle-for-hire) that the traffic management offices of the cities and towns comprising Metro Cebu should now develop a system to educate, regulate and control the behavior of these cousins of the kamikaze pilots of old.

Almost every day now, we are bombarded with accidents involving head on collisions between two motorcycles — something very strange when considering the fact that the streets in Cebu are relatively wide enough for two motorcycles to avoid each other.

While I understand the increasing need for these “habal-habal” drivers as a temporary solution while we continue to scratch our heads waiting for that mass transit system, still, if nothing is done to regulate and control the idiots among this lot, we will soon have our hospitals full of accidents day in and day out.

Fortunately, there is some ray of hope. At the side of the Guizo/Maguikay flyover, the oldest flyover in Mandaue, I always see three or four traffic enforcers issuing tickets to erring motorcycle drivers even as from time to time, one sees checkpoints that always find their fair share of catch for the night.

Perhaps another solution will be found right at the point of purchase when these motorcycles meet their suicidal drivers for the first time. Firms that sell these motorcycles should be encouraged to help educate these modern Kamikaze equivalents.

At least the Kamikaze pilots of old were doing their deathly maneuvers for a higher purpose: to die for Emperor and motherland. Woe unto the motorcycle driver who dies for no other reason than ignorance of traffic rules, rudeness and utter discourtesy.