5th blog post-classification essay

      According to the World Book Encyclopedia, “Throughout most of history, transportation was extremely difficult. Prehistoric people travelled mainly on foot. They transported goods on their backs or heads or by dragging them along the ground. About 5000 B.C, people began to use animals to haul loads. By 3000 B.C., wagons and sailing vessels had been invented.” As we try to observe the history of transportation, improvements on vehicle were invented. However, the increasing population of vehicles affects the traffic condition on roads. Traffic congestion, traffic jams and traffic accidents occur. On the contrary, there are possible solutions to prevent or control having this problems and these include (1)Electronic Signs and Signals (2) Putting CCTVs (3) Road widening (4) Separate lanes for motorcyles and huge vehicles(e.g. trucks, buses, cars, jeepneys).

 

 Electronic Signs and Signals. Electronic signs and signals can help drivers determine if the lanes are two-way or one-way. It can also inform them if a road is traffic and which way is more convenient to pass by. It reduces delays because people receive accurate and reliable information on time.  The signage is changeable because it is now electronic. The traffic management department can change it instantly if a road is starting to have a heavy traffic.

Placing CCTVs.Placing CCTVs in different areas of Binan will help the officials to monitor the flow of the vehicles and if there is an accident occur. People or authorities can have an immediate response to the accident.

According to Traffic Management Technologies,

"CCTV monitoring will provide significant benefits to road users:

• Improved response to incidents by the emergency services. This will greatly contribute to minimizing the likelihood injuries of becoming fatalities at accident sites as the improved response time to providing critical medical care has a proven impact on reducing the likelihood of death from injury.
• Major incidents and congestion are effectively monitored and managed. Rapid and accurate incident detection can provide significant reductions in delays due to incidents. In addition, the chances of secondary incidents or accidents occurring are reduced, providing significant improvements to road safety.
• Rapid overview of network conditions provides up-to-the-minute information for traffic management services and the media. The provision of accurate and timely traffic information is one of the key functions of the traffic management operator. Cameras will allow strategic traffic management from the Traffic Management Centre. This will allow the online updating of signal timings to counter manage unforeseen events or incidents on the arterial network. This includes breakdowns and accidents. This provides a significant contribution not only to road safety, but also to personal safety for stranded motorists."

Road Widening. Roads should be widened so that the drivers can maximize their space when driving along the road and to have smooth flow of traffic. The ability of the vehicles to move freely are not limited. The local government should prohibit residents in using the public roads for parking their vehicles and selling on the streets because these add to the slow movement of cars.

Separate lanes for motorcycles and huge cars. Separate lanes for motorcycles and huge cars can prevent motorcycles from slipping in between cars that can also avoid traffic snarl-up along roads. Like in Metro Manila, there are specific lanes for motorcycles and buses. These also lessen the traffic accidents.

 References:
http://www.itsinternational.com/EasysiteWeb/getresource.axd?AssetID=46256&type=custom&servicetype=Inline&customSizeId=18
 http://www.awamiweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/cctv-on-road.jpeg 
 http://www.tmtservices.co.za/proj-its.htm
http://www.heartythoughts.com/2010/07/better-infrastructure-for-better.html
http://www.kotse.com/home/index.php/forum/43-motoring-resource/6650-re-motorcycle-lane-on-c-5-okayed

5th Blog post(Comparison and Contrast)

 Biñan: During the 90's and in Present Time

       How Biñan did changed over the decades? Like what people say “There is no permanent in the world except change”. Many things changed from time to time. It is not always because we want it but we need it. However, this comes with great responsibility.

       During the 90’s, Biñan was filled with hectares of rice fields and few houses. In this place, people can feel the feeling of serenity because it is far from the noise of busy cities like Manila and Makati. In addition, it was rich with clean rivers where the residents swim, do fishing and wash their clothes. The water in the river was so clear that you can see the fish swim in it. Different trees and beautiful flowers are everywhere. Children climbed the trees to get some ripe fruit. The place was not yet urbanized that is why children used to stroll around the grassy places and fly kites.

       Nowadays, rice fields are converted into subdivisions. Properties started to be privatized by business entities.  The grassy place that seems a playground for the kids are gone. The clean river became polluted and the soil beside it is eroding. Tons of garbage are scattered along the rivers. It is also not suitable to do fishing anymore. The population grew so fast. Infrastructures and establishments are made to support the needs of the growing population. In contrast, some of the establishments did not undergo the process of proper urban planning that cause heavy traffic on the road.

       Although Biñan during the 90’s and in the present are totally different, there are beautiful things about this place that still exists such as trees and plants. Some communities in the area try to conserve and sustain it.  In making a change, every one of us should be responsible because there are advantages and disadvantages that we need to consider.

4th blog post

TRAFFIC PROBLEM

    What is the word “traffic” means? According to the World Book Dictionary, “traffic refers to the people, automobiles, wagons, ships, or the like, coming and going along a way of travel”. Traffic problem is one of the social problems that our community is facing today. During the 90’s, it is just a minor problem that doesn’t affect the society and the environment. But now, roads are congested with so many vehicles especially during rush hours. 

      Traffic problems in Biñan are mainly caused by the overpopulation of vehicles which tend to occupy the road. Some motorists/motor vehicles slip in between cars that cause a traffic snarl-up. In poor urban planning, roads that are highly used by cars are not organized. Roads are not widened. Some citizens whose houses are beside the narrow road, do not park their car properly. There is no appropriate drop-off and pick-up system. When a jeepney  will drop-off or pick-up a passenger, it stops at the middle of the road. The other cars next after the jeepney  stop too. Most drivers who lack of discipline causes an accident that slows down the smooth flow of traffic. One example of this is what I’ve stated earlier: “the motor vehicles that slip in between cars”. These factors defeat the desired movement of traffic. Based on my observation, buses also contribute to the heavy traffic. Buses travel on the road that is suitable for small type of automobiles only.

     If there are causes, what could be its effects? The possible effects are pollution and slow progress in the economy. Vehicles create air pollution because the longer hours they are congested in an area, the more carbon dioxide they release into the air. Delays in businesses also occur because of the time spent by trucks and cars waiting on the road. They don’t meet the time required for a certain product/activity. Meetings are postponed, being late in going to work or school and failing to do the assigned task at a given time. The overall results are low productivity and slow progress in the economy.

3rd blog post- Biñan City, Laguna

     My immediate community is in Biñan, Laguna. But before, we live in Makati where I spent most of my childhood years. My parents have decided to migrate here in Biñan last 2001 because they want us to live in a green environment and breathe some fresh air. In the past few years, I used to see a lot of birds, dragonflies, bees and grasshoppers which I rarely see in the urbanized place where I came from. For me, it seems like a big garden and a paradise filled with different kinds of flowers.

 

     Now, everything was changed. The flowers, trees, animals and insects I’ve seen before is now decreasing but one of the most common problems I have encountered in Biñan was the heavy traffic. Every time we go places even if it is near, it takes half an hour before we could get to our destination. Maybe one of the reasons is the lack of regulation in the number of vehicles and poor urban planning. This problem slows down the progress of our community because it consumes a lot of time. It causes delays, too much pollution and being rush in waking up early in the morning. The precious time that should be used in more important things are wasted. Business transactions are delayed causing the production to decrease. The stranded cars create air pollution. People need to wake up early in the morning just to avoid what they call the “rush hour”, the time when traffic congestion occurs.

 

     Based on the tv show that I watch every Saturday afternoon, the cause of heavy traffic are the improper regulation in number of vehicles that are passing on the national roads especially the motor vehicles. First, everyone can easily buy a motorcycle that increases the population of vehicles. Motorcycles are now affordable, even the family in the low class can have this. Second, most vehicular accidents happen to motorists. Some motorists always try to slip between cars that cause unwanted accidents.

 

     Another cause that contributes to heavy traffic is the poor urban planning. Most roads in Biñan are wavy roads and there is no proper drop off and pick-up system. For example, a jeep stops in the middle of the road to pick-up and drop off passengers and the vehicles that follows the jeepney also stops that creates traffic and straight roads is more convenient to pass by than those wavy roads. Traffic problems must be solved in order to sustain progress not only in Biñan but also in our country.

2nd blog post-Sustainability

     Are we on a sustainable path?  Does the community helps or just derail sustainability?  In some ways, there are practices and human activities that really help while some are not. Sustainability starts at home of every family living in a community.

     The first thing I see in every household is the recycling of water. They use the grey water to flush the toilet, to water the plants and to clean their surroundings.  Second, the schools implement the segregation of waste such as the biodegradable and non-biodegradable.  In houses, they collect plastic bottles and used papers then they sell it to the junk shops. It is a way of helping the environment to be clean and also earning money from it. Third, when preheating a food, they just put it over the cooked rice for them to conserve gas consumption. Fourth, some citizens plant vegetable or fruit at their backyard so they can harvest it for their foods and save money.  These things are very simple to do and it may lead us to productivity because we make things more efficient and effective.

      There are also activities that derail sustainability. First, the conversion of rice fields into subdivisions. Our community is starting to be urbanized but the effects are losing the rice fields which are the main source of our rice and a livelihood for the farmers. In the past years, our country is the one who exports rice to other countries but now we are experiencing the rice shortage. Second is being irresponsible of some people in throwing garbage. They just throw their waste anywhere they want without thinking what will be its effect to the environment. These garbage causes too much flooding that destroy properties. Third is the lack of police visibility in some places especially in the late evening. Murderers have the guts to do crime and to throw dead bodies of people along rivers and grassy places. It affects the economy of the country because as the rate of crime rises, only few investors are willing to invest. Investors might think that our place is unsafe for their investments.                                                                                                                                                                                                

       Even though there are so many hindrances in achieving sustainability, there are still ways on how we can make things sustainable. We need effort, cooperation and being aware of what is happening in the environment.

my first blog

     There are a lot of opportunities in writing and research. When we are the type of person who is really not vocal in terms of our ideas and thoughts, we can share it to other people through the use of writing. We can share things about ourselves through this. When we make plans and we organize ideas, we can use writing as a helping tool for us. When we write, we are also enhancing ourselves to think critically, on how we will expound our ideas and how we can connect these things. I also think that writing can also be a good therapy for every person who is experiencing things or problems that they can’t tell to other people. One of the examples is a diary; they just simply write what they want to say instead of keeping these inside of their self that just add to their burden feeling. Writing has a lot of good advantages if we just try to look at it in a broader way. In research, there are also a lot of learning opportunities. It is an opportunity for us to gain new and updated information. As we all know, our world is changing very fast and for us to cope with this, we need to do research at some other time. Based on my experience especially now in college, I’ve realized the importance of research. With the use of research, I am able to know new things that I’ve never known before like the advanced technologies and a lot of information that can be found in the internet is a great help in my studies. Maybe my classmates and I just need to improve on how we add more good ideas and setting our goals/objectives when we write so we can easily think of a good topic. In doing a research, we just need to have perseverance because we cannot gain good information in just one single data or article and it is a must to gather a collection of different data in order to create good information.

      The problem that is might be best addressed is identifying the things that will help each individual in keeping themselves motivated in doing writing activities because it helps a person to keep on doing the activities. When you are motivated to do things, you can accomplish it. Sometimes, we just need to have some techniques on how we can make ourselves motivated. There are techniques or ways that I think can help me and my classmates in adding more ideas and different words when we write. First is watching different English movies. When we watch these kinds of movies, we may encounter words that are new to us and sometimes we tend to be curious what is that word all about and then we try to be familiarized with those kinds of words. We can now apply those words when we make blogs, writings, etc. We can make not only just a simple article or blogs but also a kind of writing that every person can be amazed of. Second,  have yourself a time to focus on what you are going to do. keep yourself away from distractions. When a person has a focus, it will be easy for him/her to concentrate of thinking a good topic.