Red light means slow down look around if there's a cop then proceed if there's none. Amber light of course means drive faster. Green light to a jeepney driver means slow down at the corner so passengers can still catch a ride. To some drivers, particularly motorcycle riders, the sidewalk is a convenient alternative if the road itself is too crowded. Drivers, generally, would rather honk their horns rather than step on their brakes is somebody or something is in their way.
Even if there is a "No Parking" sign right in front don’t be surprised if somebody parks his vehicle, let his engine idle and turn on his blinkers. "I’m not parking, I’m just waiting for somebody and this won’t take long," is the common excuse. When caught red-handed guilty motorists become temporarily deaf, "Sorry chief I didn’t hear you whistle;" blind or illiterate, "this is a one-way street? I didn’t see the sign;" and amnesiac, "I forgot my license in my other vehicle;" and ignorant, "Really, no U-turn?"
My unsubstantiated observation is that Cebu drivers are worse than their Metro Manila counterparts. How else would you explain those tire-busting cat’s eyes. Let’s not even discuss Cebu’s unique tire clamps. Blame it on that Bisaya temperament called paugat. This in-your-face can-do attitude has borne many intrepid entrepreneurs in succeeding at their ventures against various odds. But it brings out the worst in our driving habits when coupled by another Filipino trait, that "basin diay makalusot" mentality. They can violate traffic rules with impunity because they see a lot of drivers getting away with it.
Driving late at night can be just as aggravating and risky because drivers get bolder in throwing all caution to the wind. In one night alone we witnessed five vehicles speeding past a red light. After midnight there's the added risk of drunk drivers, thrill-seeking teens, and drivers high on drugs. Yet even in broad daylight and in the presence of traffic enforcers many incorrigible motorists demonstrate their recklessness and go scot-free.
This notwithstanding, it remains a subject of bafflement to many foreign visitors that there are less traffic accidents than expected, and lesser loss of life when accidents do occur. In the U.S. ten-car smash ups are not that uncommon. In Manila there are other indirect hazards that motorists have to contend with – being shot over a parking space, getting caught in the crossfire between the police and suspected drug lords, and losing your life and vehicle to bank robbers making their get-away. Here, at least for now, what you usually get are fender bender collisions becaue of over-speeding, right of way and mechanical (brake) failure. Maybe motorists here are just extra about the unpredictability of it all and everybody else. The jeepney ahead can stop in the middle of the road without warning to let a passenger get in. The private car in the leftmost lane suddenly cuts in front of you to make a right turn in the corner. A teenager will bolt in the middle of the street after his basketball. An old woman who has crossed your lane stops in the middle of the street, remembers something and backtracks. Maybe it is just well that our streets are pockmarked with diggings and potholes and crowded with vehicles, pedestrians, vendors and illegal structures. These might have served as deterrents from further and worse accidents.
So what’s the ABC in driving in Cebu? That would be