Editorial: Thank you, violators

AS FUNNY as it may sound, we should somehow be thankful to jaywalkers and traffic violators who contributed to the P16 million collected by the city from them.

That is P16 million worth of income for the city to utilize for its programs and projects for its constituents.

However, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio also pointed out something that we should be alarmed about.

Duterte-Carpio said during her State of City Address on Tuesday that the number of violators has increased since the full implementation of the anti-jaywalking ordinance from 19,587 violators from the period of September to December 2017.

She said the City Transport and Traffic Management Office (CTTMO) was able to nab 20,740 jaywalkers and other traffic violator for the first half of 2018.

It can be observed around the city that there seems like to be a disregard for traffic rules. People crossing the street and not using the overpass or pedestrian lane or not waiting for the walk signal to go green; vehicles being parked in no parking areas and causing traffic; and going beyond the speed limit, among others.

The numbers, while good for the city's income, are enough to set off alarm bells to the city when it comes to imposing discipline to its people.

The city should add more teeth or capability to the CTTMO to teach jaywalkers and traffic violators. The city can do this by adding more traffic personnel or providing them some new equipment. They can also step up their information and education campaign on the traffic rules here.

The city should also strengthen its efforts to strictly implement loading and unloading bays for public utility vehicles as they tend to cause bottlenecks in some streets.

It is also good to note that the city council has already been making moves to teach the younger generation on traffic rules. Unlike some of their educated parents who seem to not understand what "no parking" means.

However, Dabawenyos also play a part here. They must also follow the traffic rules of the city even when there are no traffic enforcers around.

"Disciplinado ang Dabawenyos," they say, but when it comes to traffic rules, well that is something we have to reconsider.