Evil twins and a nasty brother

Ignorance and accidents are the Evil Twin Sisters of the road and their nasty brother is named “Kotong”. Their father is Asiong Aksaya and their stepmother is MaMa-hal na Gasolina.

The past week for me seems to have been mostly about road related and transport matters. Highlight of the week was the meeting of P-Noy with transport operators where the President was made aware of the fact that “Kotong” lives and is no longer afraid of sunlight.

Whether it was coincidence or not, several members of media had also come from the “Driving Skills for Life” seminar hosted by the Ford Group Philippines (FGP) where the idea was to teach drivers how to drive safe, smart and fuel efficient.

I find it ironic, that the noisiest drivers in the Philippines are, in all probability, the least educated, least skilled and least efficient as far as driving skill and fuel economy is concerned. The only time these drivers ever make it to a classroom setting is when they are arrested for a serious traffic violation and are forced to attend the dreaded “seminar”.

Unlike the dreaded “seminar” at the LTO or MMDA, the FGP “Driving Skills for Life” is so relevant and relatively fun that a number of media people have attended it more than twice. I myself attend such seminars because driver education is a continuing need.

As a background, “Driving Skills for Life” is an on-going Driver Skills and Road Safety program initiated by Ford Group Philippines since 2005 and has taught an estimated 20,000 participants.

Based on the presentation of veteran driver/educator JP Tuason of Tuason Racing School and the interaction of participants, you realize that most drivers in the Philippines learn to drive from their Dad, boyfriend, or the family driver. As a consequence, the students inherit all the good and the bad driving habits of their mentors, which is usually 20 years out of date.

Only a very small percentage of “trained drivers” graduated from driving school, where most of them learn how to “operate” a vehicle rather than actually learn what is required of good drivers. Unfortunately most driving school operates and measures learning on the basis of “driving time” rather than “driving skills” acquired. After learning how to operate a vehicle, they simply “learn from experience”, or what they learn from their mistakes.

During the FGP-TRS seminar, participants learn that the TOP 3 causes of accidents and driver error are Over Speeding/Not Following Road Signs/Drinking and Driving.

Instructor JP Tuason once again points out that half the time, Over Speeding accidents are not necessarily those at the top of speed limits on highways. Drivers who go 10 to 15 kph faster in residential or busy areas are just as likely to kill or cause serious damage because the “encounter” is immediate and unexpected.

Given the physical volume and velocity of vehicles, especially on wet roads, not even ABS can save a child, a dog or another car from being crumpled if you drive 15 kph above the recommended speed and distance.

As far as Not Following Road Signs, I feel like it’s a lost cause because many local traffic enforcers can’t even explain when a driver may or may not go through a yellow light, many of them don’t even know what two cars and a slash symbol means. Someone said no double parking!

Imagine, a Senator had to ask about the speed limit on EDSA because there are no signs! The government even did away with painted lane dividers just to save money!

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If you are one of those drivers who have problems doing parallel parking or reverse diagonal parking, it may surprise you that there is a simple science and technique to doing such maneuvers. It begins with checking if the space is big enough for your car plus a meter more to the front and back if you’re a beginner. You can contact Ford or TRS for the simple instructions on-line.

One parking issue that came up is about reverse parking at malls. Some malls and condo tell motorists to park their cars facing the wall instead of backing into the slot to prevent exhaust smoke and bumpers from defacing the walls.

This however, places motorists and their cars at risks. Driver are in a vulnerable position since they don’t see an attacker from behind and their door would be wide open for an assailant to simply push them in. Drivers backing out of a parking slot have more difficulty reversing, and have several blind spots.

All these tips and insights are just a fraction of the many things Ford and TRS can share with people and organizations that are willing to listen and learn. Unfortunately, the only people who seem to be interested in learning more are people who already have a good foundation or discipline in driving.

If Malacanang and the Office of the President can organize a high-level meeting with transport operators and spend hundreds of millions of pesos to subsidize transport fuel costs, why can’t Malacanang and the DOTC and DILG hook up with the Ford Group, TRS and other like minded organizations to develop and implement a continuing education program for public utility drivers?

Government can help public utility drivers by giving them hands on knowledge about smart, safe and fuel efficient driving. I myself would join in to teach operators to take out excess weight from their vehicles to save on fuel. When gas was cheap, having so much “Borloloys” on a vehicle was cool. Not anymore.

When we teach, people can learn. When people know, they can make a difference.