The city government of General Santos is practically turning to the late pop icon, Michael Jackson, and his famous “thriller” dance steps in addressing the city’s traffic problems and the worsening cases of traffic-related accidents in the city.
Glenville Gonzales, assistant city administrator for operations, said Thursday the city government will deploy “dancing traffic enforcers” within the next few days to help effectively direct the flow of vehicles that has been starting to congest several main thoroughfares in the city during the rush hours.
“This is to mainly draw the attention of drivers, especially those who are already tired or sleepy, and at the same time make driving or commuting around the city more enjoyable for everybody,” he said in a radio interview.
As part of the initiative, Gonzales said they will provide the city’s pool of traffic enforcers with MP3 players and teach them some popular dance steps.
He said the MP3 players will be loaded with various tunes, including those of Michael Jacson, and will be used by the traffic enforcers for their dance routines.
“We’re initially giving out 12 MP3 players and we’re planning to teach them new dance routines every week,” he said.
Gonzales said the dancing traffic enforcers will initially be assigned at the city’s major convergence points, especially those with installed traffic lights.
He said the presence of the dancing enforcers will help motorists become more attentive to traffic light signals and avoid possible traffic violations.
Gonzales said he earlier submitted such proposal to city officials and they gave their support for the move.
He said some local stakeholders they initially consulted also expressed support of the idea, which will be first implemented on a test mode.
“We will regularly evaluate its implementation to further improve the system and make it more effective, especially in making our daily traffic more orderly and in stopping the rising cases of road accidents,” he said.
An earlier report issued by the city’s traffic command noted that at least five road and traffic-related accidents on the average, mainly involving motorcycles, had occurred in the city on a daily basis. [PNA]
