Highway to Hell

The recent incident that involved a pre-dawn race between two buses resulting in a smash-up that ignited a Mercedes Benz and which claimed the life of an eye doctor and injured four others has been used, quite effectively, to criticize the "reckless" and "irresponsible" statement made by MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando that there are no speed limits along EDSA.

Today's editorial on the Inquirer quite accurately explains the reality which may have confused Chairman Fernando: that EDSA is a highway in name only. It is, in fact, like any other street in Metro Manila: choked at certain points by intersections and littered by commuting pedestrians.

But the critics of Chairman Fernando, obviously laying the groundwork for the destruction of his presidential dreams, tend to overlook one simple fact: that vehicles, and commuter buses in particular, have been running at dangerous speeds along EDSA in the hours between midnight and sunrise, long before this statement was made. Bus drivers did not take their cue from Chairman Fernando; a thoroughfare with hardly any cars inspires the inner racer in all of us.

Of course, this is not to be tolerated. Pedestrian Pinoy has found himself suddenly religious, and uttering a silent prayer during such odd-hour bus rides along EDSA. During normal hours (say from after dawn till before midnight), the sheer density of vehicles along EDSA itself regulates traffic, that there is just no way any car can travel beyond 60kph. But outside of this window, speed demons should be exorcised. Whether we would find angels in the MMDA, still remains to be seen.