When crossing the street, it is almost instinctual to have one’s guard up—look both ways before crossing to make sure it is clear and, if there is a vehicle approaching, evaluate whether there is enough time to cross or wait and let the car pass first. The same goes for crosswalks. However, observing local behavior when it comes to crossing the streets—albeit jaywalking or within a crosswalk—there is a complete disregard for personal safety.
At any given moment across Bacolod City, an individual can be seen wandering across the street, completely oblivious to the vehicles moving around them. Some people are walking their kids or holding babies while completely ignoring the cars coming directly at them and there are also those who walk parallel to the street—is there a completely different definition of how roads work in the Philippines?
Elsewhere, roads are intended for vehicles and pedestrians cross when permitted at a traffic light. Yet, in Bacolod City, people are randomly stepping into the street with no apparent idea that there are cars on the road. To be honest, the stray dogs along the road seem to have more awareness than most jaywalkers; at least, when a car is approaching, they often turn back, jaywalkers continue walking at a painfully slow pace, almost taunting the driver to hit them.
Googling the phrase “Look both ways before you cross the street,” most of the results are cartoons geared towards kids along with articles referencing childhood lessons taught by parents and teachers. However, most of these thoughtless jaywalkers are full-grown adults (physically).
A unique encounter happened earlier this week. While approaching one of the local malls, was driving towards the entrance ramp and a girl was standing directly in the middle waiting to cross the highway. While her initial assumption to stand in the middle of the entrance ramp was already wrong, it should be automatic to move out of the way—what did she do? She gave the car an angry look and slowly moved aside in disgust.
While the situation was fairly unique, the reaction was a common one. Slow-moving jaywalkers almost always get mad when a car is approaching or honks at them. According to RA 4136, or the Land Transportation and Traffic Code, “Every pedestrian crossing a highway within a business or residential district at any point other than a crosswalk shall yield the right of way to vehicles upon the highway.” Jaywalkers have no right to assert themselves over vehicles.
On top of that, they carry that attitude and, when they do get hit, the driver is always at fault. Such a situation should be resolved by careful scrutiny and not some assumed decision.
While the law also states, “The driver of any vehicle upon a highway within a business or residential district shall yield the right of way to a pedestrian crossing such highway within a crosswalk, except at intersections where the movement of traffic is being regulated by a peace officer or by traffic signal,” pedestrians still have a responsibility to ensure it is safe to cross. Yes, motorists should yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk but if a car is approaching, particularly at a high speed, the pedestrian must wait. Its common sense to make sure the street is clear before crossing, whether at a crosswalk or not.
In the end, aren’t people concerned for their own personal safety? Perhaps the same precautions many take when boarding an escalator should be applied to crossing the street because there are definitely more people who are extremely careful when stepping on an escalator than those looking both ways before crossing the street./WDJ