⌛ traffic in Dumaguete

Again, it is not just Duma. Traffic Enforcers are useless everywhere I've seen them. Money for nothing.
But I agree with the earlier post....I'm beginning to drive like the locals. It seems to be my salvation.
In my 10 months I have come upon 3 motor fatalities myself. It is never pretty.

 

I agree with Flobenz, stop buying new vehicles, or to put it another way, the sheer volume of vehicles is simply too great for the road layout and traffic volume needs to be reduced.

Traffic lights, however, will not be the solution. In order for traffic to flow properly it needs somewhere to go. There are too many choke points in town....like anywhere within 20 meters of a tricycle.

The town was probably designed for a population 30,000 citizens; whats the population now, 120,000 maybe? Traffic volume again.

Although many on here have suggested adapting to the traffic enviroment....that is ok for now, but next year, and the next, and 5, 10 years on....do you think you will still be able to adapt?

 

3 motor fatalities in Your 10 Months? That's exactly one of the reasons I told My Wife to get rid of the Motorcycle, not to mention the fact that sooner or later My 3 and 5 Year old Daughters will end up being back riders, and that I can never allow to happen. In My brief stays {once or twice a Year since 2003 for 3-4 weeks at a time} I've seen a number of Fatal accidents along the highway..

 

For my 2 cents, the best way to improve Dumaguete's traffic would be stop allowing private cars in town. They take up the most space; partly because they're bigger than motorcycle and pedicabs, but mainly because most of them have no idea how to drive. Put some parking lots at the city's edge and let them ride pedicabs or walk from there.

Wishful thinking on my part. Unlikely that the city will do much to improve the traffic. If they ever do anything it will be designed to inconvenience poor people rather than the wealthy.

I'll be happy as long as the helmet law remains unenforced.

 

All forms of traffic should be allowed to access the city....Private vehicles and trikes too. No point in banning one type of vehicle just because somebody does not like it.

Better traffic management of all types of vehicle is the key.

 

Subterranean highway? :D

 

I don't have a way to improve traffic flow, but I do have a way for the mayor to save the city a lot of money. Think how much could be save if the TMO doesn't paint anymore road signs/markings,(eg pedestrian crossings, intersection yellow cross boxes etc etc), make no parking/ no loading/unloading signs/ traffic barriers etc etc.
Why? Because no one here knows what they mean and even if they do, no one obeys them any way. Simple!:D

 

And as a contrast in driving, when I went to Singapore a couple of months ago, I came out of my hotel to go to some shops and restaurants in the next block. I walked to the nearest painted crosswalk and put ONE foot in the street to wait for traffic to go by. As soon as my foot touched the street, traffic in both directions stopped. I looked at a taxi next to me and he motioned me across the street. The traffic in both directions waited until I was up on the far curb before resuming. Strange!!!!!

 

i agree with your suggestions, firstly north-to-south traffic bottlenecks here in the city. add to that the rush-hour traffic during 5-6pm.

and as a 2-cent addendum... dumaguete government should also work hand-in-hand much more closely with other towns and cities to encourage would-be settlers to nearby locations instead. make these attractive/habitable enough to live in and convenient enough for residents to visit dumaguete whenever needed.

this is an indirect approach, but would ease up forcing everyone to follow traffic rules etc which sometimes takes quite a long time to achieve -- its a culture we're talking about, not only simple obeying of rules. besides, with the volume of car sales (and other 4-wheelers) at present? letting everyone follow rules, setting up traffic lights, and whatever they've got wont solve the traffic permanently enough and would haunt us again soon.

 

Adding to my personal "body count", a neighbor school teacher crashed last night up the road from us. He's alive but is all cut up and in the hospital. He was riding his motor, no lights, No helmet and drunk and came up on some road construction that's been there for 2 weeks, and lost control????