NO ONE wins in a traffic altercation; only victims of such acute circumstances. When I was younger, I used to honk at traffic violators - drivers and commuters alike. I would stop, roll my window and call their attention about their irresponsible behavior. I obviously didn't think of any adverse consequence; I just felt it was my civic duty to stop traffic bullies. Fortunately, I haven't encountered devil-may-care characters that would waste a lifetime for just 10 to 30 seconds of stupidity. Disastrously, there are some people whose luck drifted during these impulsive incidents. Although there were painful lessons of the past, we tend to forget them without a hitch.
Remember the likes of Claudio Teehankee, Jr., Rolito Go, Jason Ivler, and currently in the mainstream, Vhon Tanto. All of these names got involved in a road rage, all of them pulled a gun, and all managed to kill their defenseless victims. I thought 1991 was enough for us to bear in mind the lessons of driver rage. It was in that year when the son of a former chief justice cut the bright future of the young Maureen Hultman and her friend Roland Chapman. That same year, a student who was believed to purchase a pizza nearly collide his car against the counterflowing vehicle driven by mogul Rolito Go. And just like that, this creature of unsound mind decided to play God and murdered the innocent. Both offenders were very influential but they got convicted anyway and served a sentence.
On the face of it, Teehankee's and Go's conviction and punishment seem futile. Eighteen years later, another road rage resulted in another tragedy when Jason Ivler pulled out a pistol towards the unyielding son of the Palace official and fired without remorse ending the life of a person who refused to be bullied on the highway. And again, the culprit got slapped with 40 years in a cell.
And of late, Vhon Tanto shot cyclist Mark Vincent Garalde after the former was defeated in a fistfight during a confrontation along a street in Manila. The self-disgusted Tanto, after being arrested by the authorities, admitted that his temper got the best of him. Regret would always save the worst for it comes last. In a blink of an eye, the future of both the shooter and the victim drop out of sight. Garaldo's children are suddenly fatherless while Tanto's wife who is pregnant with their fourth child is selling what she can to compensate the victims of her husband.
I reiterate: There are no trophies in a road rage, only painful lessons and grave punishment. Teehankee, Go, Ivler and Tanto should be more than enough to be tailor-made examples for us to avoid engaging in a senseless outburst. Sadly, Filipinos have tendency to forget remarkable lessons of history. I remember one story my father shared during our Pale Pilsen nights. When he was walking along the busy streets in Japan, he witnessed two cars collided in an intersection. The drivers of both vehicles got out of their car and my dad anticipated they would exchange blows. Instead, they bowed to each other to express apology and respect, and they got back on their respective seats and moved on. It's a very admirable story that is unheard-of here in the Philippines. Luckily, there are two zones in Luzon where I can witness discipline in traffic flow - one in Subic and other one in Clark. Outside these two former U.S. bases, it's an organized chaos.