A meme featuring Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio and fictional superhero “The Flash” gained buzz on Reddit Philippines for encapsulating Filipino pedestrians’ reality in the metro.
A Reddit user on Monday shared the meme showing a carefree Leonardo with the text: “How pedestrians cross the street.”
It was collated with a picture of the running superhero with the text: “How Filipino drivers expect pedestrians to cross the street.”
The post has been upvoted at 98%.
The post also earned dozens of comments, among which were from Filipinos who claim to have a different experience abroad.
“Stayed abroad for more than a decade. Sanay ako na pedestrians ang may right way sa ped xing. Naloka ako dito, display lang siya hahaha, as in, walang tumitigil para patawirin ka hahaha. Kaya whenever I take public transpo dito, jusko, feeling ko ‘yung isang paa ko nasa hukay,” a Redditor claimed with an emoji.
“When I first came to Canada, I still had this mentality to rush through the pedestrian lane because the drivers would get mad at me for being slow, then upon learning that cars here would have to wait until the pedestrian crosses the street, no matter how long it would take reasonably, it hit me as a culture shock,” claimed another Redditor.
Others, meanwhile, shared their own experiences as commuters in the country.
“Karamihan sa mga motor ‘di marunong maghintay, sa totoo lang,” a Reddit user wrote.
“Filipino drivers think the pedestrian lane is just a suggestion. In other countries, talagang humihinto ‘yung sasakyan when someone’ crossing. T**gina dito sa Pilipinas, makikipag-unahan ka sa sasakyan na makatawid sa ped xing,” another Pinoy said.
“Jeepney drivers actually speed up when you’re about to cross. Even on a designated pedestrian lane,” wrote a different Redditor.
Some drivers also shared their two cents on the matter.
“Actually no, don’t run while crossing the street. I’m a driver and I would not want to hit anybody. Kapag tumatakbo, mas less time ng drivers mag-prepare mag-brake,” a Redditor wrote.
“Sure, I won’t honk if YOU’RE USING THE F*KING PED XING/OVERPASS, [redacted] niyo!!! Diagonal pa, naka-headset, chikahan with BarKaDa while crossing (not ped xing)….” another Reddit user said.
Pedestrian lanes are designated spaces on the road for the exclusive use of pedestrians.
These are usually shown as a series of straight white lines painted together in a lane to indicate that there is walking activity.
In the country, pedestrians were tagged the “most vulnerable road users” by the Metro Manila Development Authority as of 2019.
The agency said more than 100 pedestrians have died from road collisions.
The figure accounted for almost half or 45 percent of the total fatalities recorded that year.
