Useless Traffic Lights

Last Saturday, while I was at Eastwood City in Libis, Quezon City, where we held the 2nd Elimination Leg of the Business & Leisure Texas Hold ‘Em Mall Tour — Eastwood City Challenge as presented by Honda, I met someone who professed that she was an avid reader of my weekly columns here at The STAR (Motoring Today on Wednesdays and Business & Leisure on Saturdays).

She said she had been planning to write me regarding a motoring concern that the MMDA may have just plainly overlooked or probably because they are not so sure about the wisdom of their "infamous" (her words) U-Turn Scheme that they had not really acted on it lest they would have to undo it again when they are ready to admit that the system doesn’t work.

The lady, who requested that she not be identified, was referring to the traffic lights in many intersections in the metro that were "killed" by the u-turns — most, if not all of them, are still working. They still go "yellow, red and green" in that order and there are many instances that unknowing motorists not familiar with the road would suddenly stop the moment the red light goes on — a very dangerous move indeed in flowing traffic.

The lady added that in as much as the MMDA has shown grim resolve or "stubbornness" (again her words) in keeping the u-turn scheme in almost all major intersections in Metro Manila, many of them "bereft of logic", (as my friend Jimmy Tan would describe the one at the Q.C. Welcome Rotunda), then for many motorists’ sake and to prevent further accidents that the useless traffic lights cause — make them stop working.

And indeed she has hit the nail on the head (although she’d rather hit the head of whoever’s responsible for the unimaginable oversight) because I have been told of many such incidents where vehicles behind those that suddenly stop when their drivers instinctively see the red light smash right smack into the rear and themselves being similarly struck in their tailends.

I wonder myself why the MMDA has not disconnected these traffic lights. Is this a sign of lack of confidence in the traffic experimentation that many motorists still think is a complete failure and they are just waiting for the right time when it’s not so embarrassing to get the intersections back?

Just wondering.

Pit lane Notes

I’m sure you guys have been looking for this section of my column this past month to no avail. After all, we all need our weekly dose of F1 chismis! Well, I’ve been quite preoccupied with sharing my Tokyo Motor Show experiences, but rest assured your weekly dose of Formula 1 inside tidbits is back and here to stay.

First off, a woman named Katherine Legge made motor sports history last week when she became the first female to test a Formula 1 car in over a decade. In fact, Minardi boss Paul Stoddart thinks that she’s definitely got what it takes to become a full-fledged driver one day. Now something like this will definitely be good for the sport — and after last season’s United States Grand Prix fiasco, F1 needs all the good marketing it can get. A female driver would certainly be a good crowd drawer — not to mention that it will add several new demographics to the sport’s growing fan base. While Miss Katherine’s first testing day was far from perfect (a crash made it all the more memorable), it can still be said that this lass has a bright future ahead of her because her second session was reportedly quite stellar. We came very close to having a lady driver in Formula 1 in 1992, and she goes by the name of Giovanna Amati. Unfortunately though, she was bumped off the lineup by the legendary Damon Hill.

Speaking of Minardi, they will be changing their name next season to Toro Rosso. It has a pretty cool ring to it, don’t you think? Well, we’ll see of the name change will do them any good. After all, a rose by any other name is still a rose. Will cellar-dwellers by any other name still be cellar-dwellers? I guess that remains to be seen.

Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella was caught speeding in the outskirts of Rome recently, and was forced to surrender his license to authorities. He tried to explain to the officials that he was speeding home to be by the side of his sick son. He was with his wife in the car, and both were understandably beside themselves with worry over their little boy. Little stories like these remind us that each of our F1 heroes have a human side as well — they aren’t just ultra-fast beings in super speedy cars with remarkable reflexes — they have wives, and children, families, and friends. We tend to overlook how much these men put their lives on the line for the love of the sport, and of course to please us fans.

The Rotary Reacts

One of our readers, a member of the Rotary Club of Neopolitan Fairview reacted to our article regarding the "Early Warning" Seminars on Road Safety that the SPMJ, Society of Philippine Motoring Journalists in cooperation with Toyota Motor Philippines have conducted recently at the University of the Philippines Integrated School.

According to Vic Rojas, the Rotary Club has actually embarked on a similar project to educate the youth about road safety but unfortunately facing similar difficulties they were not able to actually take off the ground.

One of their obstacles, ironically, is the reluctance of school principals to have the seminars conducted or their lukewarm reception to the idea that the seminars would entail added burden and time for them and their teachers — and to think that their supposed mission in life is to teach or share knowledge to the students.

For the love of God, how can a teacher, much more a school principal, turn his or her back to knowledge for their students and their own such as; Educating the Youth on Road Safety, How Can Accidents Be Prevented, The Meaning of Traffic Signs and Traffic Rules, Safety While Walking, Commuting and Riding to School, Safety Features of Motor vehicles, Principles of Defensive Driving, Values on Road Usage and as added bonus, Journalism and TV Production? And the seminar, where all the above topics shall be discussed in a most effective way, is for FREE!

Only an uncaring school official and teacher would pass the chance to have this "life-saving" seminar taught to their students. And only an educator not worth the title or one who couldn’t care less about their own safety would let go of the opportunity to learn Road Safety even just for themselves.

But believe me, there are school principals who have said that they cannot accommodate the FREE Road Safety seminars because it could mean an additional day of work for them and their teachers that would take them away from their laundering or going to the market — gee whiz, no wonder we are developing such an uncaring culture of misplaced priorities.

Or maybe these "uninitiated" educators are not aware that statistics and hard figures show that the children are the most vulnerable souls while on the road, that many children die or get maimed from road accidents they meet going to and coming from school. Maybe these school principals are not aware that accidents can be prevented?

Now, if the school officials would not care then the parents should. The parents should insist that their children be taught how to be a safe "road user" — and that’s anyone who steps out of their home into the street. The PTA or Parents & Teachers Association should insist that the school take upon these FREE Road Safety Seminars for the sake of their children — for their safety while on the road — to save their life or limb while walking, commuting or riding to school or while on the road to any destination.

If the teachers don’t care, then the parents should. Demand from your child’s school that they be taught how to be safe while on the road.

If you want more details about the "Early Warning" ROAD SAFETY SEMINARS, you can write to [email protected] or call 0906-2658152 and ask for SPMJ’s "Early Warning" Project Director Prof. Quito da Roza.

Motoring Tip of the Week

I have a driving reminder, which I strongly feel I cannot overemphasize — while driving in a multi-lane highway use the innermost or leftmost lane only when passing. I have mentioned this not only once in this section of my weekly column and I’ll keep on mentioning it until our drivers have it as subliminal knowledge.

Drivers should stay out of the innermost lane when they are cruising down the highway. They should only go to the leftmost lane when they are fast enough to pass or overtake the vehicle ahead of them and to do the actual passing. Now as soon as you have safely passed the vehicle that you are overtaking then move out of the innermost lane and go back to the lane you came from to allow other drivers who may be running faster than you and would wish to similarly pass you.

Those who have drivers should make it a point to teach their chauffeurs to observe this simple rule in the highway. It’s not only a courtesy for those who are running faster than you are, it is also makes the highway safer to travel if this simple rule is followed by every motorist.

Happy Motoring!!!

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