Bawal tumawid, may namatay na dito (Crossing is prohibited, someone already died here)
The other day, I saw on the news the story of a mother and her 7 year old child who got hit by an oncoming bus when the crossed the Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue. They died on the spot. The bus driver surrendered to the authorities and was charged of reckless imprudence resulting to multiple homicide.
This is something I don’t agree about the law. Although they were killed in the process of crossing the road, they weren’t supposed to be there in the first place. It is strictly prohibited to cross main roads like that, but some Filipino people are just stubborn, and still cross the road.
Filipinos have a lot of excuses why they still cross the road despite the presence of a number of pedestrian overpass. Convenience is one of the few. It will “save” time if they cross the road rather than walk for a couple more meters toward the nearest overpass. Some find it “too tiring” to climb up and down the overpass. If it’s on a stoplight, they find it “too boring” to wait for the green light, and sometimes, they tend to take advantage of the light volume of incoming vehicles.
Illegal places to cross are literally laden with warning signs such as an approximately 5-by-3meter sized sign. And sometimes, the authorities put metal barricades on the center island to prevent pedestrians to climb up and cross the street. But sadly, the Filipino pedestrians are “wise” enough to make a “passage” wide enough to pass through the metal barricade.
Now, if they got hit by an oncoming vehicle in the process of breaking the law, the driver is held responsible for it. My question is why? On a major thoroughfare like EDSA, Quezon Ave., Commonwealth Ave., etc., the vehicles have the right of way and the pedestrians have no business crossing it. They are law-violators, and if they die in the process, they should solely be held responsible for it. I am also a pedestrian and I know when or where to cross the road. Road safety practices are not limited to drivers, but also to pedestrians. So always obey the laws of the road to be safe.
