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Saturday, May 27, 2006
Covington: Habal-habal motorcycles, yea or nay?
By Gary Covington
Looking in
FIRST -- a very long time ago -- there came the jeepney. They're still about. Then came trisikads and trisiboats. They're still about. And then came the habal-habal motorcycle for hire -- a single motorcycle without a sidecar carrying two, three, sometimes four passengers on its pillion seat. Illegally too, although you wouldn't know it from the swarms of bikes buzzing around Davao's streets.
All of the above daily and increasingly contribute to the traffic chaos on Davao's streets. The entire above daily spews tons of pollution to poison Dabawenyos. All of the above guzzle gas and diesel in an ever-increasing volume while the rest of the world is making serious efforts to reduce their reliance on the globe's rapidly dwindling reserves of irreplaceable fossil fuels. All of the above contribute to Davao's thundering decibel level. Try standing by a main thoroughfare frequented by revving jeepneys and habal-habals -- conversation is all but impossible unless carried on by a series of shouts.
The livability of Davao -- that oft quoted quality which puts Davao at the top of this or that survey and which we all routinely beat our breasts over -- is diminishing by the hour and yet, apparently, here is a councilor, Councilor Danny Dayanghirang, considering making habal-habal motorcycles for hire legal and permitted to carry multiple passengers on that single pillion seat.
Doesn't the good councilor realize that if he did there'd be a rush for the motorcycle stores and that the present 14,000 units roaring about our streets would probably double or even triple. Good news for the LTO but not for Davao.
And doesn't the good councilor realize that motorcycling -- even solo riding -- is considered the most dangerous form of wheeled transport. That in any normal world the comprehensive insurance rates for a high revving, nippy motorcycle are through the roof. Hasn't the good councilor stood at the side of the road and seen how these habal-habals drive? They fly, they race. They weave in and out of far bigger, far heavier, far more able to crunch them up, four-wheeled traffic. Rules of the road? Helmets? Defensive driving? Don't be silly.
And lately councilor, more and more habal-habal operators are investing in the pseudo racer models of motorcycle. Clip-on handlebars, low profile tires, light alloy frame and wheels; they go like the wind and never, ever, were intended to be two-wheeled taxis.
Legalize habal-habal motorcycles? Encourage thousands more to hit the road (figuratively and literally)? Madness.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (May 27, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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