I FINALLY figured it out. Just yesterday, a speeding motorcycle in front of our car suddenly swerved to the left, intending to maneuver a tight U-turn in order to avoid what was clearly ahead, a mobile police checkpoint doing random checks.
We just had to laugh, recalling the many times in the past that we have witnessed single riders and tricycles either doing the same thing, despite No U-turn signs, or just idly lining up by the side of the road, waiting for the mobile checkpoints to be dismantled and for the law to leave.
During at least two separate incidents last year while riding a public transport tricycle, I was asked by the driver to alight mid-trip because there was a checkpoint up ahead, and he didn’t have any or all of the following: a driver’s license, vehicle registration, or he wasn’t wearing proper attire.
In one of those times when I had to walk to my destination, when I went past the checkpoint, I asked them if they could do anything about the dodgy drivers who could see averting their route and stranding passengers, just so they could avoid going through the checkpoint.
While many among us, merely shake our heads or laugh about what appears to be a worsening practice among both private and public vehicles on the road, the bottom line in the whole affair is clear and equally reflective of what we are underneath: it’s perfectly okay for anyone to break the law for as long as one does not get caught. That has got to be the main point.
Once, in the area near the entrance to our subdivision, I had counted more than 30 single motorcycles and passenger tricycles parked by the side of the road, with everyone intently observing the checkpoint several distances away.
To think about it, that’s already 30 probable lawbreakers right there for the count! Who knows, among these people, are they just guilty of minor traffic infractions, or are they of much more?
Oftentimes, it’s also all in the little things. Some may say, It’s all right to throw your candy wrapper and small trash anywhere for as long as no one sees you, or okay to jaywalk when there’s no lawman present. In mall queues, it’s ok to cut in line if no one objects.
Clearly, if not for anything else, this has turned into a mindset that may have already gone beyond attitude and crossed over to becoming part of culture.
If that were not enough, one only has to look at this – has one ever wondered why, in practically all the major two-lane thoroughfares or major highways in the city, permanent barriers are separating each side? Or why in some banks and malls, they’ve put up winding barriers leading to the cashier?
Reminds me of steers and pigs in a farm, fenced as such for orderly processing and transport. How much of a herd have we turned into?
