A need to rationalize traffic signs

I would venture a guess that our country has the most confusing traffic signs in the region if not in the world. This is aside from the inadequacy, and in many cases absence of road directional signs, which can cause local travelers to go around in circles and tourists wondering what kind of a maze they have gotten themselves into.

First we deal with the traffic signs. Did you know that there are internationally accepted standards and specs for traffic signs, which our authorities, especially the MMDA, do not give a hoot about? And to think that our nation is one of the signatories in an international agreement that rule many aspects of motoring and traffic management, which include standards in traffic signs.

There are internationally accepted standards for the uniform shape and color of specific traffic signs. These were designed to prevent confusion and to guide travelers wherever in the world they may be. The signs may be in whatever language but their shape, color and the international symbols therein can give the meaning outright. Having worldwide standard signs can also make it so convenient and safe for motorists to understand them not needing to slow down or even perhaps stop in the highway just to figure out what the sign really means.

But sometimes the Pinoy’s penchant to be distinct and unique is carried a bit too far. What with some traffic signs in some areas in the metro or in the countryside atrociously colored pink when it should be the internationally accepted blue or some signs coming in green when it should be in another color and this is arbitrarily done to reflect the color preference or gender of the top local public official, in wanton disregard of what’s the internationally accepted norm.

Now add to this confusion the presence of commercial billboards in all shapes and sizes advertising products and services ranging from motels, toothpaste, movies and telenovelas to "tuberos", "carpenteros", home service massage and what have you, hanging from electric posts, overpass overhangs and columns and pasted on any imaginable space that’s visible to motorists and pedestrians to sum up to nightmarish mayhem.

In stark contrast to the proliferation of confusing traffic signs and the cacophony of advertising billboards is the inadequate directional signs in the metro and more so outside.

This may not be much of a concern for most of us who know our way around in the metropolis but the insufficiency is telling when we travel to other areas in the countryside and a big burden for the tourists. The only good thing going for us here is our ability to communicate in English, which really helps the foreigners get to learn their way to their destinations.

One only gets to realize this pitfall in our country upon traveling abroad where directional signs are generally in abundance and its lack more of an exception.

We need to rationalize our traffic and directional signs in the metro and all over the country. As it is, those in the know will tell you that a complete overhaul of all our signs is needed to conform to internationally accepted standards. This would of course need a huge amount of money (kurakot included) to see this done and a logical source of funding is the "Road Users Tax" collections (that is, if it has not been totally wiped out in the past few months).

Simultaneously, a rationalization in the putting up of all kinds of advertising billboards along the road should also be done or else sometime in the immediate future, if the present "bara bara" trend continued we may not be able to see the road anymore.

It’s just a thought guys. Why don’t you think about it too?

The Top Down In 22 Seconds

Imagine yourself driving down the road on a clear summer day enjoying the scenery and the thrill and excitement of a top-down sports car when suddenly mother nature decides to wet the dry fields and the withering flowers with a much needed shower. Well, all it takes is exactly twenty-two seconds to convert your open-top roadster into a weatherproof hardtop, that is, if you’re driving a Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class.

This new sporty upscale Benz was recently launched by Cats Motors at The Fort, which its president, Felix Ang, proudly describes as an exceptional car that smells of nothing but luxury, elegance and top performance — typically Mercedes-Benz.

Cats Motors chairman Greg Yu was saying that there are not a lot of these second generation of one of the most exciting and successful sports cars ever to hit the road and there are already quite a number of paid reservations. So if you want to be one of the few, better drop by Cats Motors pronto — at EDSA or at The Fort.

SPMJ

Project Update After a long and tedious process of determining what should the ‘teaching modules for traffic education and road safety’ should contain in detail and who should be entrusted to create and produce these teaching modules, SPMJ or the Society of Philippine Motoring Journalists finally signed a contract last Thursday, June 10 with the NCTS or the National Center for Transportation Studies.

To help our readers recall, SPMJ, a group of local motoring journalists from different publications and broadcast entities, has embarked on a project to help educate young students from the elementary and high school levels to become safe and responsible motorists and pedestrians based on the premise that it’s best to start them young.

In order to achieve this, the closely-knit members of this organization laid out a master plan that included the production of teaching modules or a lesson plan to be distributed to as many schools that may be willing to supplement their present curriculum so that these basics for safe, responsible, considerate and courteous demeanor for drivers and pedestrians alike can be inculcated into the young minds of the students. To help create awareness on the importance of the advocacy, the members have all agreed to go around the different schools together with some motoring personalities and motor sports celebrities and show audio-visuals representative of the teaching modules and even conduct open forums for the students to ask questions.

SPMJ would also organize a strong representation in Congress for a legislation to officially include ‘traffic education and road safety’ into the elementary and high school curriculums with the teaching modules filling the gap while the proposed legislation is still being worked on.

Ultimately the men and women of SPMJ envisions the putting up of a "Traffic City" — a theme park like venue complete with intersections, pedestrian lanes, over and underpasses, traffic lights and other elements to approximate actual conditions for motorists and pedestrians alike where young students can have a "hands on" or actual experience of being such in a most safe and responsible manner.

NCTS president Dr. Ricardo G. Sigua, Ph.D. and an associate professor of the UP Dept. of Engineering, signed the contract that would create the teaching modules and would also involve the actual pre-application testing to ensure its effectiveness. He was joined in simple ceremonies by associates Sean Palmiano, Head, Traffic Engineering & Management Group, Dr. Dayo Montalbo, Ph.D., Associate Professor, UP and Sheilah Napalang, University Extension Specialist with the SPMJ represented by its founding members, vp/treasurer, Ron delos Reyes, producer/host of Auto Review, vp/corsec, Pinky Colmenares, motoring editor of the Bulletin, vp for admin and finance Jenny Bleza, Motoring Today/Auto Focus production manager/director and your columnist as SPMJ founding chairman & president.

If schedules would be met without any snags, SPMJ members expect to make the rounds of the schools in the metro by the third quarter of the year and the main cities in the provinces by the year’s end.

To further recall, the initial funding for the first stage of the project came from the proceeds of the 1st SPMJ Invitational Golf Tournament, a "golf for a cause" that was generously sponsored and eagerly participated in by members of the automotive and its peripheral sectors.

It’s still a long way from the project’s total completion and SPMJ members are still appealing for support to all those who wish to see our roads and streets free of chaos and anarchy caused by undisciplined drivers and pedestrians.

Pit Lane Notes

Just when we thought it was yet another humdinger of a race — with Michael Schumacher and Ferrari claiming yet another victory and Rubens Barrichello once again having a very strong showing — what do we see on CNN? The shocking disqualification of the BMW-Williams and Toyota cars! All the 4 drivers of the cars finished the race — Ralf Schumacher ended up in 2nd place, Juan Pablo Montoya finished fifth, Christianno Da Matta came 8th, while Oliver Panis finished 10th. The FIA reached this decision when they judged that the air ducts used to cool the front brakes of the 4 cars didn’t comply with the requirement they set, and were thus deemed illegal. Sam Michael, technical director of Williams, admitted their mistake, but also said that they never had any intention of cheating.

But wait. With Ralf being bumped off the results, that means that Ferrari claims yet another 1-2 victory, and Bar-Honda’s Jenson Button once again proved that he is Formula 1’s next Golden Boy by claiming yet another podium finish. So I guess the results were still pretty predictable.

McLaren fans finally have reasons to smile though — both Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard finished in the points by coming in 5th and 6th respectively. Another team that benefited from the disqualifications was Jordan as Timo Glock salvaged 7th place and Nick Heidfeld came in 8th. Giancarlo Fisichella of Sauber was bumped up to 4th.

There was no doubt at all about who the king of the night was however — Schumi, in typical Superman fashion, managed to storm past 5 race places by starting 6th on the grid and of course still coming out victorious. It was his 77th career victory, and he can had another feather to his already full hat — he became the only driver in F1 history to win a Grand Prix seven times in the same venue. Ferrari’s pit stop strategy was flawless and left all the other cars in the dust.

Motoring Tip Of The Week

Imagine yourself driving under pouring rain and then your headlights suddenly go "kaput" or blanked out and you have zero visibility. Or in the same pouring rain you suddenly find the vehicle in front of you just inches away from your bumper having stopped without the brake lights functioning. The scary prospects of loosing your headlight beam or your break lights in such a situation, which can produce unimaginable destructive and even fatal consequences can be avoided if you have your electrical system and all your lights checked regularly. And with the seasonal rains donning on us this could be the best time to do this.

Happy Motoring!!!

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