Tulfo suggests road humps near pedestrian lanes to safeguard public
Sen. Raffy T. Tulfo (Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)
MANILA, Philippines – Senator Raffy Tulfo raised concerns on Monday about road safety, suggesting that road humps be placed near pedestrian crossings to help slow down traffic and better protect pedestrians.
Speaking at a Senate panel hearing on public services, Tulfo shared how he had to scold his personal driver twice for ignoring pedestrian lanes and driving through them without regard.
“Pati driver ko minsan napapagalitan ko – nabatukan ko. Dalawang beses na yata. Dumaan kami sa pedestrian [lane at] natutulog ako. Paggising ko e dumire-diretso tapos tumayo sa gitna ng pedestrian. Binatukan ko ang driver ko. Kung meron lang huli doon, ipahuli ko. Bakit yung mga pedestrians natin hindi nirerespeto? Ano ang may problema?” Tulfo asked.
(Even my driver sometimes gets scolded – I’ve even tapped the back of his head. I think it has happened twice already. We passed through a pedestrian lane while I was asleep. When I woke up, we were driving straight and then stopped right in the middle of the pedestrian lane. I tapped the back of the head of my driver. If there was a traffic enforcer there, I would have had him arrested. Why aren’t pedestrians being respected? What’s the problem?)
With this, Tulfo suggested that humps be placed near pedestrian lanes so that vehicles — whether be it private or public — be forced to stop and avoid consciously stopping at footpaths.
Article continues after this advertisement“Maybe we should place humps, but not when there are stoplights. If there’s no stop light, let’s put humps so that vehicles will be forced to stop. Because if there are no humps, they will not respect the pedestrians and they will continue driving,” said Tulfo in a mix of Filipino and English.
Article continues after this advertisement“Yung pedestrian tatayo. Ang nakakaawa pa nyan, buntis o di kaya may karga kargang baby, hihinto sa gitna at ayaw pagbigyan. Tapos ngayon, mag papatintero itong pedestrian, in some cases masasagasaan,” he added.
READ: Transport expert pushes for 30 kph speed limit on urban roads
(The pedestrians will just stand there. What’s more concerning is that some of them are pregnant, or carrying their babies, and they will be forced to just stand there, not being allowed to cross the road. In some cases, they even get hit by vehicles.)
At the end of Tulfo’s appeal was Department of Transportation Undersecretary for Road Transport and Infrastructure Jesus Ferdinand Ortega who signified the agency’s willingness to adhere to the senator’s appeal.
According to Ortega, the department is actually studying the possibility of placing “certain physical barriers” in pedestrian and bike lanes in order to protect foot walkers and cyclists.
“Thank you for your suggestion to put a barrier. Precisely, that’s also our position in the DOTR because we are also handling bike and pedestrian lanes. Where in our proposal is to convince our colleagues to place certain protection — not just lines and paint,” said Ortega in Filipino.
“We are well aware of how dangerous it is if a cyclist or a pedestrian gets hit. So we are into that approach to place a certain physical barrier in order to protect our pedestrians and cyclists,” Ortega added partly in Filipino.
