On the road series #2

It is a rainy day today. My way to the office from Quezon City to Makati consists of some low lying areas I can't avoid but had to just brave the flood and guide the car to the shallower areas while praying I won't drive into a manhole or some gaping pothole. Since the brakes are slippery after going through a flood, I had to pump the brakes to get the water off the pads and try to keep the car from hitting the vehicle in front of me. I marvel at how jeepney drivers can keep this up day-in day-out, rain or shine, dealing with thin brake pads and balding tires and collecting payments and counting changes in between.

When I reached Nagtahan bridge, the sky was blanketed with dark clouds pronouncing more rains for the rest of the day. The drive from Nagtahan to Quirino Ave. was uneventful until I turned to South Luzon Expressway (SLEX).

Normally, when I'm on SLEX, I stop at Vito Cruz extension to make a left turn, and it made going to the office much much faster and its almost always free of traffic because the area there are part residential and part office, and only tricycles ply that route.

But when I reached the stoplight today, there area 3 traffic enforcers. I can recognize 2 MMDA traffic and one other person by the stoplight and they are waving for the drivers to go straight. I stopped and asked the traffic enforcer to kindly let me through because the road ahead is jammed and flooded, I reasoned. "Baka sumunod ang ibang sasakyan" (other drivers might follow) was the reply . I gave him an angry look and drove off, because obviously they are not going to let any car make a left this morning.

True enough, when I reached the Cash and Carry area below the bridge, traffic was so bad because of the floods ahead. After countless reds and greens, I finally made the left turn and saw the flood, as I had expected. I said to myself, there is no way my car can make it through the flood that high, so I had to drive back to SLEX on the opposite direction and make the right turn back to my usual route.

I am always cool and composed when driving. What made me seethe with anger over them was the reason I was given. Are the traffic people even thinking? Their job is to ensure people are safe on the road and they are driving people to flooded areas and traffic is a virtual standstill. I don't think they even bothered to check the roads within the vicinity before deciding to close the left turn that day. No wonder people say, its true wherever there are traffic enforcers, the area becomes more congested.

To the traffic enforcers: Hoy! Gising! (Hey! Wake Up!) Do your job efficiently, not mindlessly! You are such a shining example of waste of taxpayer money.