WE’RE not about to defend the businessman who claimed self-defense after shooting four persons, one of whom has died, in a road rage incident in Antipolo City last Sunday.
After watching several video clips of the incident on social media, we can say that Kenneth Alajar Bautista was not solely at fault. He got mugged, his life threatened, and at that moment, he probably felt that drawing his gun and firing at his attackers was the only thing that he could do to get out of the brawl alive.
Which was wrong, of course, not to mention that he had violated the Comelec gun ban. So now, he faces various cases, one of them most probably homicide.
But this incident will not end cases involving motorcycle riders and other motorists. It only serves to amplify what we call the “kuyug” mentality of motorcycle riders.
‘What we’re pointing out is the lack of discipline among the ranks of motorcycle riders, who probably think they are now the kings of the road, a title that once belonged to jeepney drivers.’
To their credit, these two-wheeled drivers always come to the rescue, or the defense, of their own who get involved in a traffic mess. We’ve seen this many times on social media, of motorcycle drivers lending a helping hand to a fellow rider lying on the street after an accident. They also help pedestrians who have been on the receiving end of the stupidity of drivers.
But we’ve also seen the ugly side of these motorcycle riders. They attack drivers of four-wheel vehicles who confront one of their own during accidents, not bothering to discover who was really at fault. Especially when they see their fellow riders bloodied and squirming in pain on the road. That’s what we call “kuyug’ (swarm attack).
We’d like to point out that motorcycle riders are not the best drivers in this part of the world. They crisscross the paths of other vehicles at full speed, putting their lives and the lives of other drivers on the line. Whatever happened to motorcycle lanes on major thoroughfares, like Commonwealth Ave. in Quezon City? Well, if there are no enforcers around, motorcycle riders like to go full throttle on other lanes.
Who are the most violators of the EDSA Bus Lane? You guessed it – motorcycle riders! Some don’t even have a driver’s license and their motorcycles are not registered.
A colleague once pointed out that when the red light comes on at intersections and you happen to be the first vehicle waiting for the green light, the small space in front of you, usually the pedestrian lane, gets filled up with motorcycle riders, most of them looking at their cell phones while waiting for the light to change. So when the light changes to green, you need to honk your horn to bring them back to reality and you get ugly stares, sometimes even a dirty finger.
What we’re pointing out is the lack of discipline among the ranks of motorcycle riders, who probably think they are now the kings of the road, a title that once belonged to jeepney drivers.
Unless these people realize soon enough that they need to follow traffic rules and exercise caution, we will see a lot more of the Antipolo incident. We’re sure of that.
