in retrospect…

as defined by Dictionary.com:

dare·dev·il (dâr’děv’əl)
n. One who is recklessly bold.

adj. Recklessly bold. See Synonyms at adventurous.

and i am pertaining to those 2-wheeled vehicles more commonly known as motorcycles… drivers of this dang contraptions weave in and out of traffic without care for life or limb… daredevils? yes… responsible drivers? NO!!

just the other day, while on my way to work, there was no traffic as it was still so early in the morning, and i was cruising along Makati Avenue following a white Totyota Altis… when out of the blue, a small blue motorcyle [and with the driver having no helmet to boot!!] cut me just when the car i was following braked!! i almost hit the guy, he looked back, and gave me that devil-may-care grin… i was just so… fuming mad!!! so mad i could’ve went after him and run him over, if not for the fact that running grinning daredevils over with a car is called premeditated murder… but i really could’ve done it just so i can see that grin wiped off his mug…

see, they know that us car drivers will always stop and be on the lookout for them, so they don’t really care… and that fact i hate the most… and the same goes for bicycles and pedestrians…

shouldn’t bigger vehicles have the right of way along streets and highways? should’t smaller vehicles be on the lookout for bigger ones? i still remember the days when we can travel the streets without always looking left and right fearing that we might hit a motorcycle… sheesshhh… where were those days?? tsk tsk tsk…

and you know what? this’ll get more and more worse as days, weeks, months, and years go by if we don’t do something… i dunno, probably our esteemed lawmakers can pass a law banning weaving in and out of traffic?? or designating a lane for them??

of course, there are responsible motorcycles out there, not all of them are bastards… but majority of them are… you will see them everywhere… with babies in front of them, with riders at their backs, or alone, they are everywhere…

i. really, hate. these. people.

bastards…

Ciao, sweetie…

i was driving along Gil Puyat Avenue [formerly known as Buendia Avenue] last week to attend an interview with LevelUp Games and to pick up my wife when, all of a sudden, a very big sound suddenly whizzed by my side… when i looked, it was a big bike with a lone rider… i immediately whipped my camera out of its case, and took this photo…

now, what’s sooo wrong with that picture?? forget about the blue color [nope, it was not raining at the time] nor the grainy image… forget also that you can see the top part of my steering wheel…

naww… see that man on top of the steering wheel?? riding a motorcycle?? conveniently weaving in and out of traffic?? well, if you still do not know what’s wrong, HE IS NOT WEARING A HELMET!! and this was in Makati to boot!!

now, isn’t wearing a helment, whether in Makati or other places, whether alone or with a passenger, compulsory??

Dictionary.com defines compulsory as:

com·pul·so·ry [kuhm-puhl-suh-ree] –adjective
required; mandatory; obligatory: compulsory education.

simply put, all motorcycle drivers and passengers MUST wear a helmet… is he a cop? even so!! more so!! i have often seen MMDA traffic aides riding motorcycles, sometimes even in tandem, and both of ‘em not wearing helmets!! i thought there was a law regarding this??

here’s another fool rider not wearing his helmet taken on the same day, this time along Jupiter also in Makati…

do they have a death wish or something?? don’t they know that if they get hit by a four-wheeled vehicle, they will surely suffer a head injury, or worse a mortal wound?? apparently, they don’t care about their lives [and neither do the policemen and traffic aides, both of which abound in Makati] and the lives of the people around them… these daredevils/stuntmen/hellriders of our streets must be stopped immediately!!

Ciao, sweetie…

Tags: [ motorcycle | helmet ]

an officemate and i got to talking about driving conditions in the metro and outlying areas while waiting for the next meeting to commence… it all started when he asked me which top 3 drivers/vehicles among our public transport system are worse… to answer his question, my choices were:

number 3: buses, because of their volume along EDSA;
number 2: taxis, because they don’t care whether they get hit or not;

and,

number 1: jeepneys, because they still maintain that they are kings of the road, and must be feared…

our number 3 were the same, but his number 1 were taxis… when asked why, he just went deadly serious on me and said:

it is nationalism, pre… or at least the lack of it… you see, if you are a nationalistic person, it means that you respect yourself as well as the next person… with taxi drivers, it is very obvious by the way they drive that they don’t care whether they get hit or not, or whether they hit someone else or not… for them, it is just the money… they drive that way because they think they can earn more by getting to their destinations the fastest way possible… and by doing so, they don’t respect the space of the other drivers… they will cut people off the road, they will get ahead of you given the smallest possibility that they can get ahead of you, and in intersections? they simply zoom across without regard for themselves, their passengers, or other drivers…

thinking back to that, i do believe he is right, that he nailed it right on the head when he mentioned that the problem is the lack of love and respect and consideration, not just among our public transport drivers, but more so can be said for the government… that was why we have corruption, political killings, and political dynasties… this was because politicians do not recognize that the Filipino people should be first and foremost in their minds, because they thought that the esteem we held for them was due to their status in life, and because they think that the government is their own little playground to do however they see fit…

it will be election time in 5 days… unfortunately, it will not be for you, for you will never feel its effects… think of the little ones: you small brother, your children, nephews and nieces, grandchildren… this exercise will determine their future… so if you have to vote, please vote wisely…

Ciao, sweetie…

Tags: [ driving | Philippine Elections | May 14 | nationalism ]

(n)

dammit!! :[

who is/are supposed to be responsible for those damned traffic lights along C5 and Libis?? the MMDA?? the local Ortigas and/or Quezon City governments?? fuck!! someone should take them down!! they're useless, anyway!!

i almost got into a traffic accident this afternoon because of one of these traffic lights which, although working, aren't really used along that route, a clueless driver of a closed van, and a stupid driver of an FX taxi!! [so sorry for all these exclamations marks... i really am livid until now... sheessshhh...]…

so, i just came from IBM Plaza in Libis and was en route to Makati to pick up my wife… i was cruising along the outer lane [all alone in front, and the nearest was about 50 meters behind] and about 100 meters away in the middle lane was the closed van immediately followed by the FX… if you’ve driven along that road, you already know by now that you don’t have to break and stop when those useless things turn red… apparently, the clueless driver of the closed van doesn’t and the stupid FX driver does… you can just imagine what happened next…

:s the van stopped, the FX almost didn’t, not expecting the van to stop because of that traffic light, and immediately swerved to his left to avoid the van… apparently, again, he wasn’t looking in his left side mirror while doing this, and he almost slammed into me, right at the front passenger door of my car!! i at once slammed on the accelerator [if i didn't, he might have hit me then], and when i was free, slammed on the brakes this time… got out of the car, and berated the FX taxi driver for not looking!! and all he can do was blame the clueless van driver!! asshole!! gggrrrrrrrrrrr!!

[somebody stop me, please before i pop a blood vessel!! please!!!!!!]

back to the rant…

and so, as i was saying, someone should take responsibility for that and take those dang traffic lights-accident-waiting-to-happen down before someone just accidentally hits someone else due to a misread of a light… [goodness, i can't stop!!]

sige na, para matapos na ito, tanggaling na mga putanginang yan!!

aaarrrrgggghhhhh!!

Tags: [ driving | accident-waiting-to-happen | C5 | Libis ]