Point-blank of no return
Everyone has a fuse. Don’t light it for them.
That’s my appeal to every road user out there. Make this your mantra on the streets. Whether you’re on two or more wheels, on foot, and yes, even in the air: Don’t be the trigger. Don’t be the hand that pushes or pulls someone beyond the point of no return.
I don’t own a gun, and as much as it tempts me to buy one for supposedly “self-defense” purposes, I don’t think I will actually ever buy one. Our maddening, chaotic roads offer too many, and too strong, temptations to use them, then be drowned in regret afterwards. When we’re triggered to high emotions, there’s the high chance we’ll reach out for any weapon to satiate our emotional outbursts. A gun in hand is the easiest to discharge. Without one, we’ll have to resort to our fists, a tire jack, maybe, or even a switchblade. All things the intended subjects of our wrath can evade or run away from. But a gun? You must be living in the Matrix if you can dodge bullets.
Once you pull that trigger, in a thousandth of a second that bullet will exit the chamber, and there’s nothing you can do to take it back. It will hit anything in its path, often with lethal consequences, an outcome that probably far outweighs the perceived threat you face.
With experience and age, I have developed my own ways of “adding coolant” to my “internal radiator,” so to speak. You may think it corny or cheesy, but I do go to my “happy place” whenever I’m stressed out on the road. I think of my loved ones waiting for me at home, my rescued animals who need to be fed.
Someone I know tapes a picture of his girlfriend on the dashboard to remind himself of the lovely soul waiting to give him hugs and kisses.
But I do get pissed off when I’m behind the wheel. I do feel slighted when someone cuts me off. The confines of my car are my safe space. And inside, I curse and scream and give the middle finger to anyone who does me wrong. And that’s about the worst of it. In my younger years, I admit, I was more violent towards my fellow road users. I used to exact revenge on those who cut me off by stepping on the gas, passing them, and giving them a dose of their own medicine. I used to tailgate the slowpokes on the fast lane, blinking my high beams and honking the horns to intimidate them out of the way. I used to pull my windows down and give the “death stare” to other offending motorists. I now look back at those days and be super thankful that no one from the other end got triggered enough to escalate the violence, or worse, pull out a handgun and mete out his or her final solution.
Flashbacks of those wilder days of my youth ran through my mind when I viewed the videos of the incident last Sunday at Boso-Boso in Antipolo, when an SUV driver indiscriminately opened fire at a group of motorcycle riders and bystanders. The shooting incident left one dead and three others injured—including the SUV driver’s girlfriend who got caught in the crossfire.
The SUV driver claimed what he did was self-defense. The group of bikers were ganging up on him, he said. These motorbikers were the same people the SUV driver earlier cut off or nearly sideswiped because of his erratic driving. The bikers caught up with him at one point when he stopped by the road, and that’s when the melee began.
Are road rage incidents increasing in number, or is it just because it’s now easier to record and broadcast these things due to cell phones and social media? The UP National Center for Transportation Studies posted in 2024 in its social media site that “the number of road traffic deaths in the Philippines has been rising over the last 10 years.” According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Report in 2021, the number of road traffic deaths increased by 39 percent, from 7,938 in 2011 to 11,096 deaths. According to the Metro Manila Accident Reporting and Analysis System (Mmaras) data, “out of the 72,000 road crashes in Metro Manila that were recorded in 2022, most of them were caused by road rage.”
Road users may also have adopted the mentality that it’s “every man for himself” out on the streets, because seeking the help of law enforcement is seen as too time-consuming.
Lawyer Robby Consunji, trustee chairperson, government liaison committee for the Automobile Association Philippines, stressed: “The (Boso-Boso) incident reflects the lack of discipline on the road. Drivers and riders have not been trained, tested and screened before earning their driver’s license. The incident also reflects the lack of enforcement and the tedious process to seek redress of a traffic incident. Adversaries on the road will seek to bypass the formal redress by doing a roadside confrontation.”
Consunji added: “We lack trained, independent and qualified investigators. The events leading up to the confrontation must be plotted in terms of speed, distance, location and time. The videos tend to show recklessness and aggressive driving by the motorcycles and SUV; this sparked the confrontation. Unlawful aggression will have to be determined.”
The law isn’t in your hands, especially when you have a gun in them. Before you hit the streets, take a deep breath, and make that promise to return in one piece, and let others do so, as well.
