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.