3 Wheelers

[architect]

Secondly, these people are better off building and driving these contraptions than throwing stones or robbing and looting other people. It is a matter of fact - a blessing to see the masses actually doing something to survive and empower themselves.

I hate to disagree, but it is not actually an either or situation. It does not logically follow if a poor person is not building one of these monstrous contraptions, he will automatically be doing criminal stuff. There are countless other legal revenue generating activities they can indulge in.

It is bad enough tricycle drivers not only lack discipline but are totally insensitive (oblivious might be a better term) to the chaos and problems they are generating. But at least most tricycles have lights and move faster. The kuligligs simply bring the problem down to a worse level. I have seen some swerve suddenly onto oncoming traffic, expecting the poor driver to be able to stop on time. Most simply hug the road, even major roads like A. Bonifacio leading to Balintawak or even MacArthur Highway. Somehow the kuliglig operators tend to have a mindset even worse than the tricycle drivers'. Perhaps it is because they tend to be younger and poorer and more used to anarchy.

If the upsurge of kuligligs is not controlled soon, we will inevitably reach a tipping point where legislation won't help. Even secondary roads will suffer gridlock. Their rise is not a natural effect but more from the lack of law implementation. Progression is natural. Retrogression is not. Their rise is rather the manifestation of everything wrong in our local infrastructure.

But then you might be right. After all the kuliglig is the progression/retrogression of the tricycle. The emergence of the tricycle was/is a major setback in terms of progress and development. It is bad enough tricycles have become so ingrained in our society that corporates and politicians have taken to them as literal advertising vehicles for the masses as they have with just about all forms of public transportation - buses, jeepneys, and taxis. Signs of the times brought to you in chaotic movement, if you will.

Since the kuliglig is a poorer version of the tricycle, it can be viewed as the natural progression of the tricycle and is merely following the (negative) trend set by the latter. So in a way, it is a natural progression. But when you think of it in this manner, you can't but help pity our country. Because the conclusion then is retrogression has become the natural progression for us.