Entering the black hole
Whenever La Prensa publishes a story on Panama City’s ongoing traffic nightmare and the government’s attempts to solve the problem, I can not help but to imagine large amounts of money being thrown into a black hole.
The latest story was about how the price tag for the new traffic lights is now more than $22 million. Now, I have never shopped for a traffic light, but this seems a bit steep to me, especially since I think they weren’t even purchased new, but rather used.
This system was supposed to ease traffic congestion, and cut commute times by 50 percent by working together to help vehicles move quickly through the city. While I wasn’t here for the test run of the system that took place earlier this month, I understand it was a complete disaster. I honestly don’t know how rush hour traffic in Panama could get worse, but apparently this new system achieved the impossible.
I for one was a bit skeptical of these claims when I first heard them. First of all, no one in Panama pays attention to traffic lights. They seem to be viewed more as suggestions than actual commands. So regardless of how intelligent the traffic signal is, its effectiveness is limited by the amount of influence it actually has.
I was also highly skeptical about the claim that any system costing a paltry $7 million was going to solve the traffic problem, even if it ended up costing $22 million.
Heck, if I had a magic system that could reduce Panama City’s traffic problem, my starting price would be double the cost of the Cinta Costera. And that would be a bargain, considering the fact that the proposed metro system is going to rival the Canal expansion in terms of capital investment.
Personally, I think the problem is that each new government has its own plan for solving this problem, and by the time a little headway is made, a new government comes in with a new plan. The result is millions of dollars wasted, and no real solution to the problem.
I would suggest that Panama appoint an independent Transportation Board that would be run like the Supreme Court. Appointments would last for 10 years, so no president could name more than two members.
This would provide much more continuity than the current system, and might actually lead to the problem getting solved. But I guess the chances of this happening are about the same as the intelligent traffic lights solving the problem, though my solution costs about $22 million less then they did.
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Here in Santiago we didn’t use to have traffic lights. Cars, more or less, got to an intersection, let a car or two from the side street go through, and then proceeded in a reasonably sane fashion forward. People could cross the street carefully and drivers would stop for them. Then they installed traffic lights. When they turn green, there’s a mad rush to see who can get through the light before it turns red again. Where there were 3 or 4 cars at an intersection before, now there are several dozen, all racing to beat the light change. No more courtesy for the other fellow, everything is all at the mercy of the light’s computer, which can’t recognize that the side street has just one car to go through, it simply waits for the other non-existing 6 to pass, while the opposing lane has 15-20 lined up waiting for green. People who used to be able to cross the street in front of courteous drivers, now have to pray that the light doesn’t change and catch them half-way across or they have to run for their lives while menacing cars blast toward them at the dictates and mercy of the almighty changing light. At least in a couple of months when the bulbs burn out, just like in Panama City, nobody will replace them and sanity may return, at least for awhile.