Imagine yourself amidst a sea of vehicles.

Cars, vans, taxis and other vehicles are all

around you. None of them seem to be moving. If you continue to look, beyond the immediate
surrounding vehicles, you begin to see a seemingly never ending ocean of vehicles and
none of them are moving despite the fact that their engines are still running. In this scenario,
you have one thing in common with every person there. You are all stuck in traffic.
You may wonder, "Why should I care if there's traffic?". Occasionally, we all get stuck
in traffic. And when you do get stuck, there's a good possibility that it will last for quite some
time. Perhaps the most familiar one for us is the traffic in Katipunan during the morning rush
as we go to school. Unexpected traffic can cause you to be late for events like parties and
meetings. While in the midst of this, don't you ever think that you could be doing something
better with your time? Quite possibly, you have. Our productivity is hampered. But don't
worry, you're not alone.
Traffic in the Philippines, especially in Metro Manila, can become quite a travesty. In
fact, in 2012, CNN's website for traveling named the Philippines as third worst country in the
world to drive in due to all the traffic. In addition to that, the article also stated that Filipinos
perceived traffic as their number one problem followed by air pollution, garbage collection,
flood control and the need for security. All the time spent in traffic actually costs the
Philippines a daily loss of around 2 billion pesos. The things factored into this amount
include the cost for fuel and the lost time which could have been spent on production, trade
and business. Across the past ten years, the Philippines has lost an amount close to 1 trillion
pesos because of traffic. On top of all this, according to statistics, the number of vehicles in
the Philippines is still constantly increasing. This means that unless a better traffic scheme is
developed, traffic will only continue to get worse.
After looking at the research, it seems that traffic is a problem that reaches far
beyond our own wasted time. It seems that this traffic not only affects our lives, but the lives
of everyone in this country even if they're not in the traffic. All the money lost in traffic could
have been spent for the benefit of the entire country. Another thing at stake here's is the
country's worldwide reputation. Since traffic is quite a prominent thing in the Philippines or at
least in Metro Manila, the country can be put on the spotlight by organizations such as CNN,
and not in the good way.
Now that you know the effects of traffic, take action. Try to help reduce traffic. Ride public
transportation, carpool, and ride a bicycle to places. You're not only doing yourself a favor by
saving costs on fuel, your also doing the entire country a favor.

References:
http://www.nscb.gov.ph/secstat/d_trans.asp
http://business.inquirer.net/130649/traffic-costs-p2-4b-daily
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/313490/economy/business/p1-5t-lost-to-traffic-jamsin-10-years-ncts-study
https://ph.news.yahoo.com/manila--world-s-third-worst-city-for-driving--says-study.html