Of left turns and license plates

Atty. Jerome G. Neri
The Scrutineer

I WOKE up one morning and got to work with a lot less traffic just to find out that the whole Banilad road has been made no left turn. From my house to where I work and back, it is really a benefit for me. However, I have seen numerous complaints in social media. Apparently, there were plenty of unfavorable reactions to the new scheme because a lot of motorists had to travel a longer distance.

To me, a successful traffic scheme is one that saves time for the majority of motorists using that road. The distance does not matter – I’d rather travel a longer distance that saves time. All these no left turns certainly will make travel distance a lot longer because of the distance of the places where one can make a U-turn.

Several days later with the scheme still in full swing and things more or less have settled down, there is a big and noticeable difference. Traffic is really a lot less – no more complaints on social media, nor do I see pictures and social media rants saying “stuck in traffic,” insofar as the Banilad road is concerned. Then I see a post of a person who initially criticized the new scheme saying that he has to eat his words as his travel time to work is now significantly shorter. Thank you, Citom, for a job well done.

LICENSE PLATES. A news item came out on TV where the LTO announced that it will clamp down on all cars that have plate number covers, holders, back plates, third plates, commemorative plates and other accessories/decorations on their plate numbers. Although kind of extreme, as I cannot now install a plate number protector, this is a good step by the LTO.

However, there was a big uproar against this over social media by different groups of so-called car enthusiasts. A car enthusiast is a person who likes to modify, accessorize or in any manner enhance his car.

Apparently, the people that would be affected by the new LTO rule are those who modify, accessorize or enhance their plate numbers, and it is these people who are up in arms. They are not car enthusiasts – they are plane number enthusiasts.

Based on my observation there are different kinds of plate number enthusiasts:

The Europlate enthusiast. This person uses a plate number from Europe as a back plate for his Philippine plate number, thus, an extra number from the European plate number can be seen, which can become confusing.

The JDM plate number enthusiast. He puts a Japanese plate number in the location where the Philippine plate number should be and relocates the Philippine plate number in some other place.

The government agency commemorative plate number enthusiast. He installs a commemorative plate that is either that of the PNP, LTO, NBI or other law enforcement agency on his car and complements it with an Office of the President sticker on his windshield.

The tilted plate number enthusiast. He installs his front plate number as close to horizontal as possible that nobody can read the numbers on his plates.

The artist plate number enthusiast. He thinks the plate number is a piece of canvass and paints it with his own colors and design.

The custom plate number enthusiast. He does not use the LTO-issued plate number and makes his own.

I’m sure there are other types of plate number enthusiasts that I have not mentioned. With all these different plate number groups, the LTO has no choice but to clamp down hard and take drastic measures – measures that are even stricter than those in a lot of other countries.

It is important that the plate numbers are kept the way it was issued and mounted securely on the car the correct way and at the proper place, where it can be identified and seen clearly. On this issue I am on the side of the LTO, and I hope they really clamp down on these plate number clowns.