There must be a better way

With your kind indulgence allow me to give way to a letter from Luke Esteban regarding a normal occurrence, which, because we see it too often we don’t seem to mind anymore.

Mr. Esteban writes, “The reason I am writing to you is because of what I have been seeing at the Magallanes Interchange. There have been occasions that I drive down to Manila or Makati and there is a big number of either MMDA or Makati Police that gather there to stop vehicles with Diesel engines. It is such a nice place to try and stop vehicles since it is designed just like a bottleneck so the vehicles really need to slow down. The objectives of these cops are to stop the vehicles for (supposedly) Smoke Emission tests. But at times you can see that there are buses and or trucks that actually emit so much smoke yet continue with their route without being flagged down. And with the way they flag down vehicles, it really causes a lot of traffic.”

Yes Luke, this exercise indeed causes a lot of traffic and there must be a better way to do it. I cannot take away the importance of doing these spot checks on vehicles’ emission levels to ensure that they are within the allowable degree as the concern for a highly polluted environment now goes beyond the health issues of the populace elevated to the horrendous effects of global warming.

The MMDA and the other local governments that perform these spot checks should be able to device a way to continue with the exercise without being detrimental to the smooth flow of traffic anywhere in the metro.

It’s not an easy problem to solve but the government should work on the solution for the sake of the general motoring public.

Last 2 weeks of voting

Public voting gets heated by the day as the end of this year’s polls to determine the most preferred automobile models in each of the 12 categories and the most popular, the “2009 automobile of the year” comes to its end on September 30.

As of this writing (Monday, September 14) the “consolidated tally” of votes for the 2009 Auto Focus Automobile of the Year – People’s Choice Awards has the Panamera, Porsche’s first ever 4-door offering leading in the “auto of the year” race having an almost 1,000 vote-margin over the Hyundai Starex, last year’s “full size van of the year”, with the Starex having a lot more “on line” votes compared to the Panamera’s that come mostly from Philippine STAR ballots. The Lexus LS460, which was leading the pack in the first few weeks of the voting is on 3rd place.

In the “sub-compact sedan” category the Hyundai i10 is slightly ahead by less than 100 votes over the Honda City, many of whose votes are from Top Gear and Speed magazines and from The Philippine STAR.

Another close race is in the “compact sedan” category between the frontrunner Honda Civic and the Hyundai i30 with less than 300 votes lead.

Honda and Hyundai is also closely contesting the “mid-size sedan” class with the Accord slightly ahead over the Sonata and similarly in the AUV category with the Isuzu Crosswind having a lead advantage over the Toyota Innova and the Toyota Previa a shade ahead of the “2008 Automobile of the Year” awardee Kia Carens in the “mini-van” group.

To closely monitor the voting tally just log on to the voting website www.autofocus.com.ph where votes cast are consolidated by their weight factor – online votes are counted as a single vote, those sent through SMS to Magic 89.9 would equal to 2 votes each, votes from The Philippine STAR are multiplied by 3 while those from Top Gear and Speed magazines count as 5 votes each ballot.

More competitors expected on 2nd staging

When we first staged the Auto Focus Precision Driving Competition last year together with the Auto Focus Motor Show & Auto Expo, the P500 registration fee proved to be a little stiff for many. Considering that the objective of the exercise is to promote public awareness regarding the importance of driving skills to make for safer driving, we have decided to bring this down to a more affordable level to give more people the chance to participate.

Hence, when we stage the Caltex Techron 2009 Auto Focus Precision Driving Challenge on November 5 to 8, 2009 at the Global City Grounds, the registration fee shall only be P200.

Like expertly done last year, we’ll again have the HSDC (Honda Safety Driving Center) manage the competition by providing the trained marshals and competition paraphernalia like pylons, electronic timer, etc. necessary to ensure its objective. HSDC, under the tutelage of its very knowledgeable general manager, Arnel Doria, shall also provide the design of the “competition course” that shall, first of all ensure the safety of both competitors and spectators and also to highlight the basic driving skills that a driver should have in order to be safe while on the road.

It is again emphasized that the competition is not a race but an exercise that shall test a competitor’s ability to manage speed and to handle the vehicle safely and properly in given situations like parking, braking and even evading scenarios to avoid accidents.

This year the vehicle that’ll be used by all the competitors is the newly-launched Kia Soul, the sensational “urban crossover” vehicle that’s currently taking the country by storm. It’s being provided by Columbian Autocars, the country’s exclusive distributors of the remarkable Kia automobiles, which is guided skillfully by its president and COO Mr. Felix Mabilog, Jr., who instinctively saw the opportunity to give the public a “hands-on” experience with the new Kia Soul and at the same time get involved in promoting awareness regarding skillful driving.

The rules of the competition are kept simple. There will be a given or “prescribed time” to complete the “competition course” – say 2 minutes. A competitor gets a demerit for every second that he or she finishes the course in less or more than the prescribed time and also demerits for every pylon displaced during the various driving maneuvers. The participants who get the least demerits bring home the prizes (P10,000 – Champion, P3,000 – Runner up, P2,000 – 3rd Place) and other prizes from Caltex Techron. The rules are also designed to allow participants to register as many times as possible, which would mean that competing 5 times, and mastering the course, with a cost of P1,000 in registration fees, can still be won back and even more in cash prizes.

The “precision driving contest” shall be one of the many crowd-drawing activities, which would include a “mini gun show” to be staged by invited reputable firearms manufacturers and distributors, during the Caltex Techron 2009 Auto Focus Motor Show & Auto Expo presented in cooperation with BDO (Banco de Oro) Auto Loans. The event shall also be a “bazaar” of auto products to be put up by what’s fondly called the “after-market mafia”, a group of young businessmen involved in auto aftermarket products and services composed of Sammy Liuson of Wheel Gallery, Atoy Llave of A-Toy Body Kits, Arvin Lim of Bilstein and Val Khoe, Jr. of Caresthetics.

Mark the date for this much-awaited event, the year’s biggest display and test drive of current-model automobiles from the country’s major manufacturers and distributors of the finest automobiles – November 5 to 8, 2009 at the Bonifacio Global City.

Motoring Today Club

I have decided to give way to a long-time clamor, from people I know and those I just meet casually, to put up a group that’ll be composed of automobile enthusiasts of all ages, regardless of gender, regardless of whether an automobile owner or not but with a common determination to stop “drunk driving”.

It’ll be known as the “Motoring Today Club” and those interested may write to our e-mail address that we have below or call telephone number 633-4422 and just register your name, contact number and e-mail address and we’ll get in touch with you in due time.

It’s not a fun club but a “working group”.

Happy Motoring!!!

For comments: (e-mail) [email protected].