29 August 2025, Canaman, Camarines Sur
Calling the ATTENTION of SUPER-VINCE, Secretary of Transportation (DOTr Secretary Vince Dizon).
RESPECT THE PEDESTRIAN LANE or, more precisely, CROSSING (also abbreviated in road signs as PED XING) needs to be drummed more effectively into the consciousness of Filipino motor vehicle drivers. This is just as important as the DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE and DON’T DRIVE AND TEXT driving rules for public safety.
I am a retired septuagenarian who regularly takes an hour of morning exercise walk (if not raining and flooding) around and outside our small ungated residential subdivision off Naga City, Camarines Sur. Walking outside the subdivision to reach other nearby ungated subdivisions for extended walking involves traversing a highway from Naga’s boundary to the next town north which is my town Canaman. The highway portion I traverse has five clearly marked pedestrian crossings, including one in front of the local public elementary school entrance and exit gate.
I almost always observe that most motor vehicle drivers do not slow down and stop even when there are clearly visible school children, whether with or without an accompanying adult, waiting to cross the above-said pedestrian lane to and from the school. It is clear that most such drivers are either not conscious enough of the pedestrian crossing rule or worse, know it but do not respect it.
As for the pedestrians, not just those who are school children, most tend to wait until there is no vehicular traffic going through the pedestrian lane perpendicularly in both directional vehicular lanes before they cross the pedestrian lane to the other side. Even the barangay tanod assigned to assist school children crossing that lane does the same thing. Para que pa the pedestrian lane if pedestrians will just wait till there is no vehicular traffic or for some short breaks or gaps in it before crossing to the other side?
It is clear that such pedestrians and the tanod concerned are either not conscious enough of the pedestrian crossing rule or are simply playing it safe given that the oncoming vehicles are not slowing down and stopping. In the infrequent instances that they do slow down and stop in order to let waiting pedestrians cross first, or to give way to those already crossing, it is the accommodated pedestrians who usually give signs of thanks or acknowledgment to the accommodating drivers, often as if apologetic for interrupting their driving momentum. It is the motor vehicle, not the pedestrian, who is the king of the road in our motor vehicle (especially car)-biased transport and public highways system. This is compounded by the lack of or encroachment on sidewalks for pedestrians, especially on busy city roads.
But the rule is that it is the pedestrian, not the road vehicle, that has the road right of way when the pedestrian is about to cross and, more so, has started to cross or is actually crossing the pedestrian lane. The full rule of law as found in Sec. 42(c) of Republic Act No. 4136, the Land Transportation and Traffic Code, is this: “The driver of any vehicle upon a highway within a business or residential district shall yield the right of way to a pedestrian crossing such highway within a crosswalk, except at intersections where the movement of traffic is being regulated by a peace officer or by traffic signal. Every pedestrian crossing a highway within a business or residential district, at any point other than a crosswalk shall yield the right of way to vehicles upon the highway.”
The few pedestrians who know that they have the road right of way on the pedestrian crossing and who assert their said right, often have to vigorously signal the oncoming vehicle drivers by pointing down with a swinging arm to the pedestrian lane, as if to remind the drivers “Hey, I am on a pedestrian lane. Respect it and respect me.” Seniors with visible white hair (their Senior ID while walking on the road) like me have a somewhat better chance of that respect. But not all drivers are respectful despite such signals. I have had occasion to shout “Hoy!” at a few of them as they drove through the pedestrian lane to beat the pedestrians already crossing it (like beating the red light). Actually, dangerous stuff this.
Both Filipino motor vehicle drivers and pedestrians must acquire, or more realistically must be made to acquire, the requisite better consciousness, respect, and practice of the said pedestrian crossing rule. That this is a problem in our country but not in many other countries, including our close Southeast and North Asian neighbors, is a sad testament to our lack of traffic discipline as well as management. But it also shows that we can and must do better like our Asian neighbors, whether on “small” matters like respecting the pedestrian lane or on big matters like developing an efficient more pedestrian/commuter-friendly modern mass transport system. Calling SUPER-VINCE!
The header photo shows a pedestrian dodging a jeepney on a busy street crossing in Bgy. Cruzada, Legazpi City (credit: MapLogs.com). All featured photos by the author. The first three are of the actual highway portion in Canaman with the pedestrian crossing in front of the local public elementary school described in the article.
About the author
SOLIMAN M. SANTOS, JR. is a retired Judge of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Naga City, Camarines Sur and a resident of neighboring town Canaman in that province. He has a trilogy of books on his court work and practice: Justice of the Peace (2015), Drug Cases (2022), and Judicial Activist (2023), all published by the lawbook publisher Central Books, Inc., Quezon City.