Perhaps the Philippines is one of the few countries where traffic automatically builds up whenever there’s any—and we mean any—incident on the road. Even the most minor fender benders can cause gridlocks on EDSA outside of rush hour.
Why? Because we all have that natural urge to slow down and take a look. Just one look. Ever heard the term usisero? That’s the Filipino motorist in a nutshell. Instead of just going on our merry way each time, we don’t. Heck, some would even try and take photos and videos of these incidents, and if you’re the one behind the wheel doing that, that’s just wrong.
Just take a look at this truck driver—he was caught by Special Action and Intelligence Committee for Transportation (SAICT) enforcers for using his phone while driving on EDSA. He supposedly slowed down, took out his phone, and started recording footage of a minor accident involving two motorcycle riders. For violating the Anti-Distracted Driving Act, he was penalized P5,000. That hurts—ask us how we know.
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The photos were shared by Facebook page Gadget Addict. His post read: “This slowdown not only worsened traffic but also increased the risk of further collisions, as vehicles had to merge into other lanes to avoid the blocked lane.” That’s true, and that’s the reason what the truck driver did was dangerous.
I remember years ago when a car fell out of the Skyway and onto the service road—traffic on the expressway built up badly shortly after, for no apparent reason other than the fact that motorists just kept slowing down to get a glimpse of what happened. It’s 2025 already, guys. Maybe one of our resolutions this year should be to stop being too nosy with accidents. Let this truck driver’s experience serve as a good lesson.
