Traffic Education ‘Teaching Modules’ done

The National Center for Transport Studies (NCTS) formally turned over last Monday, September 12th two sets of the Traffic Education and Road Safety Teaching Modules (Elementary & High School levels) to the Society of Philippine Motoring Journalists (SPMJ) in simple ceremonies held at the NCTS offices in UP Diliman, Quezon City.

SPMJ, in its bid to help rid our roads of chaos and anarchy, which to a large extent, has been traced to the lack of traffic education, has embarked on an advocacy to help educate the youth on the basics of traffic education and discipline.

To achieve this goal, this closely-knit group of motoring journalists from the print and broadcast media, has lined up several projects. Foremost of these is to conceptualize, design and produce two distinct sets of ‘teaching modules’ on traffic and road safety, which shall be distributed free to all schools in the country.

These ‘teaching modules’ shall be used initially while the group also works on a strong lobby in Congress to pass a legislation making traffic education and road safety part and parcel of the elementary and high school curriculum, mandatory for all schools, private and public.

Ultimately, SPMJ envisions to put up a ‘traffic city’ — a small replica that has all the elements (intersections, overpasses, footbridge, traffic lights and signs) necessary to approximate driving in the city where students may learn through "hands on" seminars the basics of road safety and road courtesy.

Of course, SPMJ’s covenant to exhaust all their members’ efforts and time to pursue these Herculean endeavors will not be enough to insure success without the financial support of the business sector, especially those who would benefit most from a more orderly traffic scenario in the country, foremost of which is the automotive industry. And the sector indeed responded gracefully and generously when SPMJ came up with its first of a series of fund raising projects by way of the SPMJ Invitational Golf Cup — where the normally keenly competing players in the industry got together for an entire day for a fun-filled golf tourney. The respite was actually much welcomed, especially when it was realized that such effort was last seen, and not in such grand scale, more than a decade ago. And judging by the reactions and comments from the auto industry’s top brass, the tournament should be held at least once a year, though a bi-annual meet would also be much welcomed. Well, the production of the ‘teaching modules’ only showed that you guys not only enjoyed the tournament you joined in, the money you spent for it is being put into good use.

Now that the ‘master teaching module’ has been done, SPMJ’s present concern is to make as many copies as there would be schools to give them to for free. Next to this concern would be the actual presentation and distribution of these modules to the schools. Although primarily SPMJ planned to prioritize public schools in this endeavor, this may not be so due to possible technical restrictions of the DECS or the Department of Education, Culture and Sports itself. However, SPMJ feels that starting with the private schools is "a great leap" in itself, in its quest to achieve its goals.

The replicating of the ‘teaching modules’, which will be the official guide of the teachers who will be assigned the endeavor of molding our future drivers and pedestrians on the correct and safe demeanor while on the road, would need a substantial amount of funds in order to cover Metro Manila schools, let alone those located in the provinces. To this task, SPMJ looks toward the direction of other business sectors that may find it within their corporate citizenship to support an advocacy such as this — oil companies, batteries, tires, logistic services, etc. If you really think about it, all business sectors would benefit from a more orderly traffic system in the country, as faster transport of people and commodities would be achieved.

SPMJ may be knocking on your doors one of these days. We hope you would not fail our children and their children’s children in this mission to make their world a safer and more orderly place to live in.

The 2005 Isuzu Trooper Enters The Scene

So, what’s new with the new Isuzu Trooper?

Outside, it is now equipped with a sporty horizontal design with chrome-accented radiator grille and Gold Isuzu badge. This is complemented by a front bumper chin spoiler, a package, which Isuzu executives describe as giving the 2005 Isuzu Trooper a more aggressive and masculine stance and a wide intimidating look. Fog lamps have been added for better driving visibility and the wheels have been made more attractive by way of a 12-spoke 16-inch chrome alloys with th spare tire cover design offering a more solid-looking rear. There’s also a new entertainment package — a JVC DVD head unit that also features a variable-color display with an MP3 for "a more enjoyable listening and viewing experience".

The 2005 Isuzu Trooper is still powered by it trademark award-winning 3.0-liter 16-valve DOHC turbocharged 4JXI-TC diesel engine mated to a 4-speed automatic transmission.

The launch of the 2005 Isuzu Trooper, which was made at the Dream Bar in Ayala Ave., proved to be a well-attended industry affair by the media and quite a memorable one too for our STV group that came for the affair, what with a grand slam of raffle prizes like Jenny Bleza, our vp for production taking home the grand prize of a cam corder, our cameraman Matt Mallari winning an I-POD, Field Reporter and Production Assistant Jenny So awarded a DVD player and me winning a camper backpack. Swerte! Except that I don’t go camping. How about swapping this with a 2005 Isuzu Trooper? Calling Myrna Gonzales and Timmy Naval!

Please, please, can’t you take a joke?

The Tamaraw FX Revo Has Touched Their Lives

I won’t be surprised if the following people will suddenly have instant relatives and friends. After all they just won substantial amounts of cash from Toyota Motor Philippines for being winners in the Revo Reflections photo contest — a competition launched in search for the photo that would best present the Revo’s rich contributions to the Filipino lifestyle.

Mr. Joaquin S. Ruste, a native of Bacolod City, won P100,000 for his grand prize entry entitled "Dama, Street Game", Mr. Hanson Y. Ong of New Manila, Quezon City who entered "Step by Step" won for himself second prize worth P75,000 and Mr Reynaldo C. Mondez from Taguig, Metro Manila, won P50,000 for his entry entitled "Balikbayan".

Other winners who became P10,000 richer were Lemuel C. Arrogante, Samuel P. De Leon, Normito R. Alvarez, Hanson Y. Ong and Jesse M. Narrazo.

In less than two months since the contest was launched last July 19, hundreds of entries were submitted and each of them had a story to tell. Toyota considers this as proof that for the past thirteen years the Tamaraw FX Revo has been touching Filipino lives in different ways.

Toyota will further pay tribute to this wonder vehicle by way of a roving tour of the Revo Museum where the winning photos will be displayed in all Toyota dealerships in Metro Manila and in SM malls nationwide.

Industry Welcomes "Auto Of The Year Award"

If I were to judge by the reaction of many of our friends in the automotive industry to our launching of the "Auto Focus Automobile of the Year Awards — People’s Choice", these polls would indeed play an important role in the industry’s marketing strategies.

The polls, which would be open to everyone — those who own vehicles, those who are planning to buy vehicles and even those who cannot afford to buy vehicles — will determine the most popular among the best vehicles available in the country today.

Voting will be done through cell phone text and the vehicle that gets the most number of votes gets to be declared as the "Auto of the Year" while those garnering the most number in their category shall be proclaimed as such — "Best SUV", "Best Family Van", "Best Pick-up", etc., while those who participate in the voting shall stand the chance to win valuable prizes weekly during the duration of the polls and even on the day of the proclamation of the winners.

Other details regarding the polls shall be released to the public as they are firmed up.

Motoring Tip Of The Week

As the price of fuel continue to rise, many fuel saving tips emerge all in the name of fuel economy. One basic fuel saving tip while driving is to go easy on your accelerator pedal. A "metal on the floor" mindset while driving, though appearing sporty and speedy, will definitely mean more fuel consumption. However, a "free-wheeling" mode of driving (running while transmission gear is on neutral) may register some amount of fuel saving but is definitely not commensurate to the danger or risk that comes with it.

"Free-wheeling" effectively removes traction from your wheel and makes for dangerous driving as control of the vehicle is highly reduced — don’t form the habit.

Happy Motoring!!!

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