thursday night last week, on my way home, my car's right front wheel struck a big piece of rock on the middle of the southbound alabang viaduct, instantly destroying the tire and damaging the suspension arm and misaligning various suspension parts. i spent some 30 minutes laboring to change the tire without any patrol car passing by ang lending some assistance. with the 300% increase in toll fees not too long ago and the impending 12% vat, i guess it's not too much to expect that regular patrols should be made to remove dangerous objects on the road, assist motorists and enforce traffic rules. also, it's now a real free-for-all at slex anytime, anyday, with all kinds of vehicles at all kinds of speed jostling all over the place, with the outside lanes at times virtually becoming the fast lane. but this is not the end of it. the surface of the road on the lanes of slex particularly between san pedro and carmona have already sprouted potholes and imperfections which can surprise unwary motorists. on top of this, the whole stretch from alabang to sto. tomas is unlighted at night. it's really hard to believe that with the kind of revenues that the slex operator is raking in everyday, ordinary motorists still cannot get the safe and fast trip that they are entitled to. we always seem to be on the losing end.