Lived Experiences of Traffic Enforcers in Ozamiz City: A Phenomenological Study

Abstract

Traffic enforcers play a vital role to maintain public order and safety in our roads. The aim of enforcement was to prevent the occurrence of road traffic violations by means of control and punitive sanctions. This study was conducted to know the lived experiences of traffic enforcers in Ozamiz City, Misamis Occidental. It is a phenomenological study where the researchers made an interview guide questions to gather data on the traffic enforcers experiences. The study was conducted for the randomly selected traffic enforcers in Ozamiz City. Moreover, there were seven (7) traffic enforcers purposely selected to be part of the respondents of the research study. The respondent was selected with the criteria where he/she is a traffic enforcer and must have an experience at least 2 years. There were five (5) themes identified in the study namely Adversity in the fulfilment of duties, Encountering Harassment, Resistance, and Threats from the Motorists, Seeking Police Assistance in responding Aggressive Motorists, Responding with Calmness, Patience, and Respect to the Motorist, and Obedience to Traffic Rules. Based on the findings of the study, it shows that majority of the traffic enforcer‟s encountered harassment, resistance and threats from the motorists. Some motorists are unapproachable, aggressive and too arrogant violators that still insist that they did not commit any traffic violations. It was recommended that the traffic enforcers of Ozamiz City may continue to show calm, patience and respect towards handling the rude behaviour of a certain motorist who violates the traffic law. Moreover, traffic enforcers encouraged motorists to always follow the traffic laws to avoid and lessen the accidents on the road and have a smooth flow of the traffic because if every motorist is disciplined, it can reduced the workload of the traffic enforcers and everyone can benefit to it.