Of missing traffic enforcers and stolen side mirrors

If an ordinance recently approved by Quezon City Mayor Sonny Belmonte would really be strictly implemented, it could prove to be a relief to many motorists. Now, if the same law would be adopted by all the cities and the remaining municipalities in the metropolis, then you and I may have to worry less about losing our side mirrors to thieves who pry them out while we are stopped in traffic or when our vehicles are parked.

The Quezon City government has made it unlawful to buy or sell second hand or used side mirrors in its attempt to curb the wanton stealing of such by taking away its commercial viability. If there would be no buyers of these used side mirrors, then what value would these be to anyone, except probably for combing one’s hair or to check out one’s make up?

Kudos to Quezon City and to the other LGUs who would follow suit.

Now, if the MMDA leadership would be serious about its threat to its traffic enforcers that they would be immediately axed or fired when found missing in their posts or assigned areas, then we may have less of the traffic grid locks that inevitably come when the rains fall as many of these traffic enforcers take the form of sugar or salt that melt upon getting wet.

Go for it BF!

Audi In Trouble In The Philippines?

In a recent media conference held at the Mandarin Hotel, top executives of Auto Prominence came up with a litany of charges against Audi AG of Germany, makers of Audi cars, regarding their alleged questionable demeanor in conducting business in the country and the awful manner they treated their long-time partners.

The local auto company has long been known to represent the European car maker in the Philippines until lately when an official announcement was made in a recent glittering affair where a top Audi AG executive for its Asian operations attended and designated PGA Cars of brothers Robert and Mike Coyiuto as its official representative and exclusive distributor here in the country.

According to Mr. Paul Y. Rodriguez, executive vice president & COO of Auto Prominence, Audi AG indeed wrote them a letter terminating their contract but they cited no reason whatsoever for doing so, tantamount to saying that the severance of official ties was done for no reason at all, which, according to Paul was clearly not part and parcel of their existing contract. There were indeed provisions in their contract as possible causes of termination but none was cited and as far as the Auto Prominence executives were concerned there was no cause whatsoever to merit the radical move of Audi AG.

During the press con the Auto Prominence executives pictured the Audi AG Group as their long-time partners who just wanted to sell cars in the Philippines and appeared to have no intentions of investing in the country. According to them all the required investments for their joint venture were done by the local group and these investments are what they are trying to recoup faced with the termination of their joint agreement and their business relationships going sour.

As it appears, the two former business bedmates have reached a point of no return and reconciliation seems bleak. Now, the Auto Prominence group says they are poised to press charges against Audi AG but are open to a peaceful settlement to the tune of, hold your breath, 30 million Euros.

By the way, amidst all these, Auto Prominence is still pushing for their Audi 6 3.2 liter FSI, which according to them has more modern features that what’s currently available in the market. And this is with or without any official distributorship in the Philippines.

I wonder what the Coyiuto brothers, Robert and Mike of PGA Cars, would have to say about this. The Audi saga continues?

Toyota Goes Into Full Gear With Their Traffic Safety Program

With the goal of finding short and long term solutions to road traffic and safety problems, Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. (TMPC) is headed down to implement a comprehensive public information, education and traffic enforcement campaign in order to create awareness and discipline among motorists, pedestrians and traffic enforcers.

Considering the advocacy of the Society of Philippine Motoring Journalists (SPMJ), which is to educate the youth to become safe and responsible road users, TMPC has expressed its interest to fully support SPMJ’s endeavor to give free Teaching Modules to schools, train teachers on how to efficiently use them on their students and ensure the effectiveness of the teaching program, being the core of their "road safety project". The Automotive Association of the Philippines (AAP) was tagged by TMPC to conduct road safety forums, seminars and workshops that aim to identify and discuss traffic safety concerns, formulate measures to enhance traffic safety and develop action programs to achieve desired results.

We shall have more on this large-scale project that would definitely benefit motorists and the general public as developments evolve.

Pit Lane Notes

The whole brouhaha surrounding the United States Grand Prix is getting more interesting by the minute.

Fans who paid good money to get into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) are reportedly suing Formula 1 organizers, and these lawsuits could most likely reach the multi-million dollar mark. The FIA, in the meantime, was implying that if reimbursements were to be given to the paying fans, then it should come from the pockets of the seven teams that did not race, and of course from Michelin. We are talking about well over 16 million dollars here.

Television companies who won the rights to broadcast the race are also engaged in discussions with the FIA about the repercussions of the GP. The IMS is also considering either filing a lawsuit against F1 promoter Bernie Ecclestone’s Formula One Management (FOM) or canceling the contract for the 2006 race.

Another faction that was adversely affected by this whole fiasco was the bettors — a majority of which placed their wagers on leaders Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen. They understandably refused to pay up, but the ones who bet on Michael Schumacher were of course looking to collect. Some people even made money on Tiago Monteiro, the first ever Portuguese driver to get on the F1 podium.

The FIA said that they are thinking of penalizing the teams by subtracting championship points from them, but they are drawing the line at penalizing the drivers because they believe that they are mere victims of circumstance as well. But weren’t the teams penalized enough by not winning championship points in the GP? Renault, after stomping all over Ferrari in almost all the races this season, are now a mere 13 points ahead. McLaren, despite Kimi’s numerous wins and Michael’s lackluster season, is now tied with Ferrari. Toyota and Williams are now tied at fourth. I mean come on — isn’t that punishment enough??

I don’t know how they plan on sorting this debacle out, but one thing’s for sure: I sure am glad that I’m not Bernie Ecclestone right now.

Early Preparation For 2006 People’s Choice Awards

The official announcement was just made last Sunday over the TV show Motoring Today by Gerry Aquino, Project Director of the 2005 Auto Focus Automobile of the Year — People’s Choice Awards for the bigger plans that are being laid out for next year’s event.

To begin with, the highly successful Grand Display of automobiles at the Fort, where actual sales were consummated for most, if not all of the auto companies that participated, shall also be done in major cities of the country like Angeles, Cebu and Davao.

Another innovation is the inclusion of the "Motorcycle of the Year Award" in what will henceforth be known as "People’s Choice Awards" where the most popular automobiles and motorcycles will be determined through the votes cast via text by the public.

The rise of the sales of motorcycles in the country for the past two to three years have been no less than phenomenal and if the trend continues, sooner than we think, there will be more motorcycles than automobiles in our roads. Due to this, it is only fitting and proper that motorcycles should already form part of the polls to determine the most popular motor vehicles in the country.

Aside from the much sought after test drives and rides, some of the events that are being lined up to coincide with the multi grand displays of automobiles and motorcycles include drag races, time trials, slaloms and other motor sports events that shall be participated in not only by modern race cars but by vintage classics as well.

With almost nine months to put together the event, Sunshine Television, the rights holder of the "People’s Choice Awards" expects to give all the sponsors better and more optimized media values and the participating automobile companies similar opportunities to market their models.

Motoring Tip Of The Week

Your automobile’s brakes can save your life as well as take it too, depending on how you use it.

Like, you don’t slam on your brakes when you suddenly experience a tire blow-out. Doing so can cause you to loose control of your vehicle. The right thing to do is to immediately release your accelerator pedal and start to gently apply the brakes while safely maneuvering your car to the side of the road.

You also don’t also slam on the brakes when you feel that your tail is oscillating to either direction after taking a turn too fast as this would only make you further loose control. The best thing to do is to turn the steering wheel to where you car’s tail is tending to go, like steer to the right when the tail points to the right and similarly if it points to the other direction.

You slam on your brakes only when you are just about to hit something or someone and can’t prevent it by maneuvering your vehicle.

Happy Motoring!!!

For Comments: (E-Mail) motoring/[email protected]