It’s about time!

Word has it that there are moves to increase the amount of fines for traffic violations. There will also be a system that will monitor the number of violations made so that the habitual traffic law breakers would either have to attend seminars before getting their confiscated licenses back or have them revoked or cancelled altogether.

I believe this is one major step that the MMDA, together with all of the metro’s local governments, can make in order to improve discipline among drivers, both of public utilities and private vehicles.

There are so many of those "walang karapatang magmaneho o magkaroon ng lisensya" and this measure would surely eventually rid our roads of this menace and make them safe for motorists and pedestrians alike.

Go for it, Chairman Fernando!

The NLEX rehab may take eternity!

I finally got to travel to the North last week when the whole family went to our vowed yearly pilgrimage to Our Lady of Manaog in Pangasinan. And I think we were lucky not to have run into much traffic jams. Kudos to those who try to manage the traffic flow.

I recall that I made a last minute cancellation of a Holy Week trip to the La Union beaches, upon advice from friends, on account of the on-going rehab of the North Luzon Expressway. I also remember having even expressed my curiosity here in my column as to how long it took those who decided to take the same trip or even to as far north as Baguio.

Reader "Ramird" responded by e-mail to my curiosity by writing, "not much hassle to the North if you had taken Guiguinto exit at 3 AM Mundy Thursday".

My good friend, Fil-Estate golf director, Jeric Hechanova, texted to say, "It took me 6 hours going up last Holy Tuesday and only four hours and a half from Baguio to Southwoods on Easter Sunday leaving at 5:30 early morning. The key is timing".

Well, I agree that timing your trip is vital to having a less aggravating trip to the North. But as time if of the essence, I suggest those doing the rehab should take this to heart. But seeing the measly number of people working and the pitiful number of machines that I saw at the San Simon worksite, the rehab may just take a lot longer than what many of us are praying for.

Those of you who have traveled abroad and had seen similar road construction would agree with me that people and machines are poured into projects such as this, where the convenience of the public is very much compromised.

Maybe the contractors should take a more serious look at their timetable and cash flow with motorists’ convenience paramount. At the rate it’s presently going, cars may no longer need to travel on roads, by the time the North Luzon Expressway rehab gets finished. Motorists can’t wait for eternity.

None of the old looks

If only to consider the dramatic changes that it has undergone both in its looks and technical design, the all-new Honda City is indeed worth the trip to your nearest Honda Cars Philippines dealership for a real close up look.

Expected to set a new benchmark in its class, it was presented to the Philippine Media last week at The Peninsula in Makati, with the local motoring journalists coming in full force.

Honda dignitaries in the persons of no less than Mr. Satoshi Toshida, who holds positions like, Chief Operating Officer of the Asia and Oceania Region, Managing Director of Honda Motor Co., Japan and President of Asian Honda together with the man that can be considered the "father of the City" being the top designer of the all-new model as well as its predecessor, Mr. Takashi Saito, graced the affair.

Topping the list of "what’s new" is Honda’s latest breakthrough in engine technology, the i-DSI (Intelligent Dual and Sequential Ignition) 1.3 SOHC which employs the ingenious dual spark plug system (2 spark plugs and 2 valves per cylinder) with individually controlled ignition timing, which brings out a class "hard-to-top" maximum power of 82 ps @ 5700 rp and max torque of 11.8 kgm @ 2800 rpm.

Then there’s the racing inspired Continuous Variable Transmission (CVT) that’s mated with the Honda Steermatic and a 7-speed mode commanded "ala F1" by a fingertip from the steering wheel. And further enhancing the feeling of being in "racing control" is the highly advanced Electric Power Steering (EPS) that provides assistance depending on vehicle speed.

From the outside, there’s not much to see of the all-new City’s predecessor as the dramatic change is more visible in its aesthetic features — its sleek lines and elegant yet sporty styling.

The inside is undeniably one of the roomiest in its class, achieving the all-new City’s goal of providing spaciousness in a sub-compact car. This was achieved by a redesigned central fuel tank layout — the world’s first.

I do not wish to rob you of the excitement that comes out of discovering new things, so I pause at this point and let you do it by yourself and enjoy it in the process.

Formula One Notes

Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher will be coming into the race a mere four points behind current leader Kimi Raikkonen. The McLaren driver will definitely have his work cut out for him because judging from the way Schumi has been driving in the past couple of races, he is clearly out for blood. He has officially woken up from his four-race slumber. If I were driving for any team other than the Prancing Horse, I would be very, very worried. The Macs may have lorded it over everyone else in the earlier part of the season but this is when it’s going to start getting ugly.

If last season’s Austrian Grand Prix is any indication of how this week’s race is going to go, then I suggest that we all be glued to our TV screens come Sunday evening. Flashback to May 12, 2002. Many Formula 1 fanatics consider last year’s race in Zeltweg as the most exciting one of the season. It was when Takuma Sato, then with Jordan, was granted a new lease on life as he escaped from a horrible accident virtually unscathed. Also, that was when the Ferrari team committed one of the most scandalous moves of the season. Two words that probably still send shivers down Rubens Barrichello’s spine — "team orders". Rubens was clearly on the road to victory when suddenly, several feet from the finish line, he swerved and moved aside to let Ferrari #1 driver Schumi pass through. Rubens, who led all throughout the entire race, had no other choice but to follow what was instructed of him. The Tifosi in Zeltweg, and probably Tifosi the world over, showed no hesitation in booing their beloved team. Needless to say, the move was not well received. Michael tried to preserve what was left of his credibility by letting Rubens stand on the top step of the podium but the damage has been done. People still talk about that fateful race to this day. That little debacle may have corrupted the Ferrari dynasty forever.

Antonio Pizzonia’s head may have been on the chopping block before the Spanish GP, but he has been declared as being on safe ground — at least until the end of the season. The much-heralded rookie has been pulling off a string of extremely sub-par races and the Jaguar management can’t help but be puzzled. He was Williams’ test driver last year and his numbers were very impressive — he was almost just as fast as his high-profile former teammates, Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya. The management has decided, however, to give the Brazilian until the end of the 2003 season to prove his worth.

A once-in-a-lifetime experience

Nag blow-out si Arnel Doria for his birthday!!!

If that’s not a once-in-a-lifetime experience, I don’t know what is. But hold it, it’s not just by himself, he shared it with the birthday celebration of Honda Cars president Mitsunari Takano.

Regardless, we all had a good dinner at the Hard Rock Café in Makati and a real fun-filled nightcap at a Karaoke Bar — the family type, at IO, if only to calm down the wives of the motoring journalists who were there.

Well, most of the songs sang by Arnel-san and Takano-san will never be the same again with our profound apologies to their songwriters. But everybody indeed had a lot of fun.

Happy Motoring!!!

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