Above the law?
August 18, 2004 | 12:00am
On several occasions I have written on this column the very unsafe practice of many bikers in the country of not wearing crash helmets while biking or riding even as a passenger.
You see them almost everywhere — inside subdivisions, on the highway, on city streets — alone, in tandem and sometimes the entire family, with one or two with helmets while the others without or sometimes you see them all riding unprotected.
Present statistics show that the biking public in the country has increased significantly in the past several years. Due to this indication the police and traffic authorities should now really start seriously implementing the laws to everyone including irresponsible bikers who recklessly weave in and out of lanes, who disregard traffic signs and stoplights (you see a lot of those who just wantonly ignore these lights and just go ahead and cross intersections even with the red light on) and those who do not wear safety helmets — if only to ensure these bikers’ safety as similarly other motorists’ and pedestrians’ safety on the road.
These are actually the bikers that give a bad name to the "Bikers’ bikers" or those who are responsible motorcyclists who advocate safety and adherence to traffic laws among their peers. These are the "rotten apples" that should be cleared from the ranks of their fellow bikers who are the "out and out" enthusiasts, the professionals, the real bikers — the responsible bikers.
Having said that, I also appeal to all police agencies to have a similar strict standard for their officers and men in motorcycles to conform to the establish safety code of riding. I am sure many have not skipped noticing on many occasions men in uniform with SWAT or POLICE printed on their backs and even MMDA personnel wantonly riding the streets and highways without helmets. What’s this, an open manifestation that they are above the law? A bunch of legalized "Elmer Gantry" — "do what I preach but don’t do what I do."
In other countries it would mean outright dismissal from the service for motorcycle cops caught riding without helmets, with very few exceptions for some, like having to ride during ceremonies. That’s as strict as they go in implementing the laws on safety riding.
To the Police, we say clear your ranks too as you clear the streets of unsafe bikers. The law enforcers can better implement the law if they themselves are seen to abide by the law — role models for the citizenry to respect and emulate.
Am I dreaming? I hope not or else this nation won’t stand a chance to be as great again.
The MMDA has finally launched last Monday, August 16 the MTT (Metropolitan Traffic Ticket), which replaced the TVR (Traffic Violation Receipt), henceforth the latter would no longer be issued to traffic violators.
Aside from this change, the licenses of erring drivers would no longer be confiscated, not unless records show that fine from previous violations have not been paid for.
Now, payment of fines from violations may now be done conveniently at any of the 583 branches of Metro Bank, within 7 days or else additional daily penalties would be imposed for the failure.
It’s now so convenient to be a traffic violator so you don’t have to bribe your arresting traffic enforcer.
Man, what an incentive. Hope it works.
If only for the awards that it has been given for so short a time, the Mazda3 must really be a car worth checking out.
Dave "Mr. Mac" Macasadia, Managing Director of Mazda Philippines proudly went through the Mazda3’s litany of worldwide awards since its launch in October 2003 during its exclusive presentation to the motoring media held on the morning of Wednesday, August 11, at the Dusit Hotel.
"In a span of three months, it earned for itself 11 awards in Europe, Canada and the USA: Best New Economy Car, Best New Sports Coupe or Sedan, Car of the Year in Denmark, Turkey and the Czech Republic and the Most Wanted Sedan in the USA, to name a few," according to Dave, who was also referred to as "Mr. Suave" by a sexy TV host.
The very apt referral was made when Mr. Mac was introduced by emcee Giselle Sanchez during the formal opening of the Mazda Greenhills Dealership, last Friday, August 13th, two days after the Mazda3 launch.
Under the management umbrella of Cats Motors Philippines, Inc., headed by Felix Ang and Greg Yu, the 3rd dealership is located along EDSA where the former and now defunct Cats Greenhills was located.
"Another Mazda dealership, to be located in Alabang, is just about ready to be opened," according to Ford Philippines president Henry Co, who lead the welcoming of guests to include the very visible and super active DTI secretary Cesar Purisima and business leader Sergio Ortiz-Luis.
The Mazda3 comes in three variants — 2.0L R, the 1.6L V and the 1.6L S — with almost similar features and amenities except for displacement, curb weight, wheel sizes, meter gauges, door trims, fog lamps, radiator grilles, ABS and SRS airbags (the 1.6L S has no ABS and only has driver side airbag).
All variants come in 4-speed automatic transmission with engines similarly having twin cams (DOHC) and 16 valves. The suspension system, which is MacPherson Struts w/stabilizer bars in the front and Multi-link with stabilizer bars at the rear, is common in all variants like the disc brakes for both front and rear.
For their prices: the 2.0L R is at P915,000, the 1.6L V goes for P780,000 and the 1.6L S has a price tag of P719,000.
Novice racers who will compete in the 2004 Tuason Racing School-Ford Lynx Cup Series were presented to the media last Friday at a launch party held at the Teak Bar & Bistro at the Rockwell Plant Mall.
To flag off this weekend, August 21 and 22 at the Batangas Racing Circuit, what’s vaunted as the most exciting and glamorous series will have as participants champion karter Mark Bumgarner, TV newscaster Mike Toledo, Erika Morales, Gibson Yu, Allen Ong and Jeff Roxas-Chua.
The TRS-Ford Lynx Cup is a one make series using Ford Lynx cars which are controlled and raffled off on Friday of the race weekend to ensure parity of the competition. The Ford Lynx cars are showroom stock specs with just a little modification on suspension and exhaust. The cars are also equipped with rollcages racing bucket seats and four-point harness for safety.
Someday, our grandchildren will look at Michael Schumacher the way we see all-time sporting greats like Muhammad Ali, Kareem-Abdul Jabbar, and even Michael Jordan. He is simply having the best season of his life! He won all but one of the races so far this year (and only because of a damaged car due to a bump on the rear with safety car on). He has broken practically every record imaginable (a lot of which he set himself), and he has already won the Constructor’s Title for Ferrari. The only thing that’s left for him to do is to claim the Driver’s Championship — which is, barring freak accidents (yes, with an S) or an oddly miraculous recovery by any of the other teams, absolutely inevitable. He can actually claim it in Belgium! A win by Schumi in the next Grand Prix will make it mathematically impossible for anyone — read: Rubens Barrichello — to catch up with him points-wise. And I have a feeling he’s gonna take it. He’s been invincible the entire season, and what’s going to stop him from taking his invincibility to the next race?
The Hungarian Grand Prix was a total cakewalk for the Scarlet duo as they crossed the finish line with hardly any drama at all. The only person who came close to the tandem was Renault’s Fernando Alonso, who claimed his 4th podium finish of the season. McLaren’s woes continue — for the 6th time this year, Kimi Raikkonen was not able to finish the race. He retired in the 14th lap when he pulled in for a pit stop. Juan Pablo Montoya came in 5th in his brand spanking new Williams, and the BAR Honda pair of Jenson Button and Takuma Sato whittled down Renault’s lead for 2nd place in the Constructor’s Championship by coming in 5th and 6th respectively. Williams replacement driver Antonio Pizzonia was again impressive as he claimed another 7th place finish, and Sauber’s Giancarlo Fisichella obtained the last championship point by coming in 8th.
Buying a second hand car?
My firm advice is to have the vehicle "macro etched" first by the police authorities before making any form or any amount of payment.
It may cause you a little inconvenience and a little of your time in having this done, but what’s that compared to what you may loose if the vehicle you are buying is "hot".
Happy Motoring!!!
For Comments: (E-Mail) motoring/[email protected]
You see them almost everywhere — inside subdivisions, on the highway, on city streets — alone, in tandem and sometimes the entire family, with one or two with helmets while the others without or sometimes you see them all riding unprotected.
Present statistics show that the biking public in the country has increased significantly in the past several years. Due to this indication the police and traffic authorities should now really start seriously implementing the laws to everyone including irresponsible bikers who recklessly weave in and out of lanes, who disregard traffic signs and stoplights (you see a lot of those who just wantonly ignore these lights and just go ahead and cross intersections even with the red light on) and those who do not wear safety helmets — if only to ensure these bikers’ safety as similarly other motorists’ and pedestrians’ safety on the road.
These are actually the bikers that give a bad name to the "Bikers’ bikers" or those who are responsible motorcyclists who advocate safety and adherence to traffic laws among their peers. These are the "rotten apples" that should be cleared from the ranks of their fellow bikers who are the "out and out" enthusiasts, the professionals, the real bikers — the responsible bikers.
Having said that, I also appeal to all police agencies to have a similar strict standard for their officers and men in motorcycles to conform to the establish safety code of riding. I am sure many have not skipped noticing on many occasions men in uniform with SWAT or POLICE printed on their backs and even MMDA personnel wantonly riding the streets and highways without helmets. What’s this, an open manifestation that they are above the law? A bunch of legalized "Elmer Gantry" — "do what I preach but don’t do what I do."
In other countries it would mean outright dismissal from the service for motorcycle cops caught riding without helmets, with very few exceptions for some, like having to ride during ceremonies. That’s as strict as they go in implementing the laws on safety riding.
To the Police, we say clear your ranks too as you clear the streets of unsafe bikers. The law enforcers can better implement the law if they themselves are seen to abide by the law — role models for the citizenry to respect and emulate.
Am I dreaming? I hope not or else this nation won’t stand a chance to be as great again.
Aside from this change, the licenses of erring drivers would no longer be confiscated, not unless records show that fine from previous violations have not been paid for.
Now, payment of fines from violations may now be done conveniently at any of the 583 branches of Metro Bank, within 7 days or else additional daily penalties would be imposed for the failure.
It’s now so convenient to be a traffic violator so you don’t have to bribe your arresting traffic enforcer.
Man, what an incentive. Hope it works.
Dave "Mr. Mac" Macasadia, Managing Director of Mazda Philippines proudly went through the Mazda3’s litany of worldwide awards since its launch in October 2003 during its exclusive presentation to the motoring media held on the morning of Wednesday, August 11, at the Dusit Hotel.
"In a span of three months, it earned for itself 11 awards in Europe, Canada and the USA: Best New Economy Car, Best New Sports Coupe or Sedan, Car of the Year in Denmark, Turkey and the Czech Republic and the Most Wanted Sedan in the USA, to name a few," according to Dave, who was also referred to as "Mr. Suave" by a sexy TV host.
The very apt referral was made when Mr. Mac was introduced by emcee Giselle Sanchez during the formal opening of the Mazda Greenhills Dealership, last Friday, August 13th, two days after the Mazda3 launch.
Under the management umbrella of Cats Motors Philippines, Inc., headed by Felix Ang and Greg Yu, the 3rd dealership is located along EDSA where the former and now defunct Cats Greenhills was located.
"Another Mazda dealership, to be located in Alabang, is just about ready to be opened," according to Ford Philippines president Henry Co, who lead the welcoming of guests to include the very visible and super active DTI secretary Cesar Purisima and business leader Sergio Ortiz-Luis.
The Mazda3 comes in three variants — 2.0L R, the 1.6L V and the 1.6L S — with almost similar features and amenities except for displacement, curb weight, wheel sizes, meter gauges, door trims, fog lamps, radiator grilles, ABS and SRS airbags (the 1.6L S has no ABS and only has driver side airbag).
All variants come in 4-speed automatic transmission with engines similarly having twin cams (DOHC) and 16 valves. The suspension system, which is MacPherson Struts w/stabilizer bars in the front and Multi-link with stabilizer bars at the rear, is common in all variants like the disc brakes for both front and rear.
For their prices: the 2.0L R is at P915,000, the 1.6L V goes for P780,000 and the 1.6L S has a price tag of P719,000.
To flag off this weekend, August 21 and 22 at the Batangas Racing Circuit, what’s vaunted as the most exciting and glamorous series will have as participants champion karter Mark Bumgarner, TV newscaster Mike Toledo, Erika Morales, Gibson Yu, Allen Ong and Jeff Roxas-Chua.
The TRS-Ford Lynx Cup is a one make series using Ford Lynx cars which are controlled and raffled off on Friday of the race weekend to ensure parity of the competition. The Ford Lynx cars are showroom stock specs with just a little modification on suspension and exhaust. The cars are also equipped with rollcages racing bucket seats and four-point harness for safety.
The Hungarian Grand Prix was a total cakewalk for the Scarlet duo as they crossed the finish line with hardly any drama at all. The only person who came close to the tandem was Renault’s Fernando Alonso, who claimed his 4th podium finish of the season. McLaren’s woes continue — for the 6th time this year, Kimi Raikkonen was not able to finish the race. He retired in the 14th lap when he pulled in for a pit stop. Juan Pablo Montoya came in 5th in his brand spanking new Williams, and the BAR Honda pair of Jenson Button and Takuma Sato whittled down Renault’s lead for 2nd place in the Constructor’s Championship by coming in 5th and 6th respectively. Williams replacement driver Antonio Pizzonia was again impressive as he claimed another 7th place finish, and Sauber’s Giancarlo Fisichella obtained the last championship point by coming in 8th.
My firm advice is to have the vehicle "macro etched" first by the police authorities before making any form or any amount of payment.
It may cause you a little inconvenience and a little of your time in having this done, but what’s that compared to what you may loose if the vehicle you are buying is "hot".
Happy Motoring!!!
For Comments: (E-Mail) motoring/[email protected]
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