Too many traffic lights simply create traffic everywhere. And this has been proven in so many street corners in the metro where a simple traffic officer is more than enough to control the free flow of traffic.
In a rush to replace those traffic officers and deputies manning the streets, many local government units (LGUs) simply started putting up those street lights in almost every corner even though they are not necessary.
With these traffic lights dotting almost every corner, those traffic officers in the LGUs have now become merely decorations on the street corners. They will only tend to the traffic when those traffic lights would not work or they simply conked out of service for the meantime. Most of them are now standing by the roadside and waiting for motorists to create violations so they can come up with their “quota” for the day.
Those traffic lights are okay on more busy and wider streets but not on smaller ones where traffic is not equal compared to the former. Traffic is created instantly on smaller streets, especially when those traffic lights were “tinkered” to favor one flow of traffic. You can see motorists caught up in heavy traffic scratching their heads or even fuming mad when they were held up for too long while seeing the other opposing lane has fewer vehicles passing by.
We’re witnesses to this right in our place as traffic becomes really unbearable to a small but busy 2-lane street when a traffic light was put up in a nearby corner a few months ago. It used to be only during rush hours when a traffic enforcer was designated to man the busy corner and they simply didn’t bother to stay for too long since traffic eased up so easily after that. But nowadays, traffic pileup is a regular thing there simply because of that traffic light.
Traffic lights should also be made to go on a blinking red or yellow at night when traffic is already lighter.
In many streets in the world, traffic lights are being set this way in order for the motorists to slow down and be aware of the traffic around them. No driver would push the accelerator when coming down a street corner at night especially when they saw the traffic lights blinking yellow or red.
There have been some studies in the past where the main cause of accidents at night are the abusive disregard of traffic lights, especially by those who have drunk too much. Most of them could not stand waiting for the green light since they no longer see any traffic. But that is very dangerous and almost always the cause of severe accidents.
It’s good that the No Contact Apprehension Policy (NCAP) has been suspended for the meantime.
The very reason why there are so many thousands of violations is primarily because of those traffic lights. A mere stepping on the yellow line could cost you a heavy fine. There are so many other reasons that are being thrown to these traffic lights for many violations.
But please bear in mind that the NCAP was suspended by the Supreme Court not on the merit of these traffic lights, but because of the serious breach of personal security on the part of those motorists caught in violation of any traffic rules.
If and when the issue on personal security of individuals, there is a probability that the NCAP shall be reinstated and that the issue on traffic lights being the culprit in deciding several questionable traffic violations would not be thoroughly reviewed and discussed.