BAGUIO CITY – The Baguio City Police Office-Traffic Enforcement Unit (BCPO-TEU) appealed to the public for their utmost cooperation and understanding on the temporary inconveniences caused by the implementation of various traffic experiments in the different parts of the city as these are intended to help ease the traffic congestion around the city.
BCPO-TEU chief Police Maj. Oliver Panabang said the implementation of the various traffic experiments is the collective decision of the Baguio traffic management team to find ways how to provide motorists with convenient and stress-free travel around the city.
He said issues and concerns on traffic should be coursed through the city’s traffic management team as the members meet every Wednesday to discuss matters brought to their attention and other short, medium and long-term solutions to the prevailing traffic situation in the city.
The police official disclosed the team had been receiving both positive and negative responses from the public on the various traffic experiments being implemented to ease the traffic congestion in the city but some of the remarks are deemed personal in nature because of the effects of the new traffic schemes to their daily routine, while others are considered to be fair and just observations.
According to him, the team will assess and evaluate the results of the various traffic experiments after all the different crowd-drawing events shall have been conducted so that there will be a basis for comparison and recommendation of the team to the city legislative body to support any ordinance that may be enactment to legitimize any scheme deemed effective.
Panabang stated there are areas where the ongoing traffic experiments have proven to be effective in the initial stages of the implementation, while there are areas where it did not work, thus, appropriate adjustments had been immediately introduced to address matters why it is not working.
He admitted the roads and streets in the city were not built to accommodate the huge volume of vehicles that currently ply the same, thus, the result is always traffic congestion, especially during rush hours and weekends when visitors flock to the city, particularly during the summer months.
Panabang assured that personnel of the BCPO-TEU, deputized traffic enforcers and other volunteers are ready regulate the traffic in the different parts of the city, especially during the conduct of the major crowd-drawing events, thus, motorists should also be ready to deal these kinds of situation.
By Dexter A. See
Photo by Armando M. Bolislis
