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CAR COUNTERS OF METRO MANILA HELP ADDRESS ‘WORLD’S WORST TRAFFIC’

ImHenyo Writer
M
Jessica
2024.10.19
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A 41-year-old car counter is perched on a flowerbox at a busy intersection in the capital of the Philippines, watching cars pass by while her fingers dart over manual tally counters as she logs each passing vehicle.

 

Rain or shine, through floods and car exhaust pollution, Irna Lapriza keeps her composure as carmageddon unfolds every day in the Southeast Asian metropolis notorious for its appalling traffic jams.

Traffic surveyor manually counting passing vehicles on major roads (Photo courtesy of AFP/Jam Sta Rosa)

 

Lapriza’s tallies end up with the traffic engineers of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), who design and propose inexpensive traffic solutions. "We're happy with this job because we know how important it is. We don't mind it when people belittle what we do.”

 

Her hands rest on six linked cylindrical counters, each for a different type of vehicle. She routinely logs about 7,000 cars, motorbikes and more during an eight-hour shift that earns her around 17,000 pesos ($303) a month.

 

Lapriza has been a manual car counter for 10 years, even though she gets the occasional headache from prolonged exposure to the tropical sun. The city government employs just 34 manual car counters, who wear reflective yellow safety vests and are deployed to at least 16 major roads.

 

Head of the MMDA’s traffic survey section Mar Anthony Santos said, “The data our traffic surveyors get from counting cars on Metro Manila roads is very important. It serves as the foundation for our traffic engineering interventions and policies.”

 

Based on the counters’ data, the MMDA installed a dedicated motorcycle lane and succeeded in reducing the frequency of accidents at Commonwealth Avenue, a northern Manila thoroughfare used by 408,000 motorists per day.

 

Vehicle speeds on the avenue, previously notorious for crashes, also improved by 24 seconds over the roughly seven-kilometer (four-mile) stretch according to Santos. Tests showed a manual count was more accurate than using artificial intelligence, as CCTVs cannot count accurately at night or during heavy rain due to glare from headlights.

 

According to one survey, Manila is a sprawling metropolis of 13 million people and has the world’s worst traffic gridlock. According to traffic data provider Tomtom’s 2023 traffic index report, the average travel time is 25 minutes and 30 seconds over 10 kilometers.

 

 

Source: ABS-CBN News 

 

 

 

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