LTO chief confirms re-test of drivers

One of the suggestions made through this column by people that are already exasperated no end with the undisciplined and uninformed demeanor of many drivers, especially those of public utility vehicles, is to require all applicants for professional license renewal to take and pass anew written, practical, including physical and psychological exams prior to issuance of licenses.

Well the bit of good news I have is that the top honcho of the Land Transportation Office (LTO), assistant secretary Alberto “Bert” Suansing has just confirmed to me that indeed his office would require all those applying for renewal of their professional driver’s license would be required to again pass the usual exams prior to issuance.

Of course, what we were really suggesting here is not only to require these applicants to re-take and pass the exams but also to change or improve the examination process by, first, updating the questions in the written exams to include new traffic rules and regulations, second, changing the practical driving tests in order to determine accurately the applicant’s driving skills or the lack of them and third, to include physical and psychological tests to find out if the applicant is physically and mentally fit to drive and look after the safety of his/her passengers.

Bert made this confirmation and commitment to implement this much-needed radical change when we met during the recent successful staging of the Mabuhay! Safety Festival at the Honda Safety Driving Center (HSDC). (Please see related story below)

The mere re-taking of exams may not come near to the “wish list” of changes that we are pursuing but its introduction is already a giant step towards improvement considering the LTO’s long slumber in initiating measures to improve the quality of drivers that we have in our country’s roads in terms of knowledge of traffic rules and regulations, the right frame of mind to obey these rules and to be safe while on the road at all times and driving skills to ensure safety while behind the wheel.

Kudos to our LTO chief!

No other place in the world

In my fairly wide traveling experiences I have never seen such a convergence of countless motorcycle riders than what I saw in Vietnam. If we have a “bike lane” here in the Philippines where bicycles and motorcycles can safely stay while traveling alongside bigger vehicles, then in Vietnam they should have a “car lane” where automobiles can seek a safe refuge while in the midst of bikers especially during the rush hours. I would safely say that the ratio is about 1 automobile is to 20 bikes, maybe even up to 50 or more. In the early mornings and early evenings (rush hours) you would think that there’s some sort of a rally (minus the banners) going on in the streets.

Together with 14 other motoring journalists invited by Isuzu Philippines Corporation for a 4-day trip to this once war-torn country, we all had a field day taking pictures and video of this “traffic phenomenon” unfolding before our eyes while our bus gingerly inched forward through the sea of bikers along the streets of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon).

As our legislators take their time crafting a law to make the wearing of helmets mandatory for all those riding motorcycles, Vietnam has already gone further by imposing stricter quality controls for helmets being used by the riders.

As proof let me quote a news item from a popular daily tabloid newspaper, Thanhnien, in its November 11, 2008 issue, “Local authorities will impose stricter quality controls on motorbike crash helmets as a decision takes effect this weekend. The Ministry of Science and Technology had issued a decision on national standards for motorbike crash helmets that will take effect from November 15, 2008, requiring all helmet producers and importers to get proper certification of quality from authorized agencies.”

Presently after the release of the decision, motorbike crash helmets produced or imported must carry CR stamps, which signifies that the helmet bearing the stamp meets a set of safety standards including size, weight, hardness and vision allowed to motorists.

Aside from requiring bikers to wear certified helmets, traffic police in Ho Chi Minh City also penalize those that wear helmets without buckling the straps.

The last I heard about the proposed helmet law from the principal author himself, Sen. Bong Revilla was that Congress is still in the midst of finalizing next year’s budget and the bill would have to wait.

For the safety of the populace we strongly suggest that this bill requiring the mandatory use of helmets by all those who ride motorcycles should be certified as urgent. The wide use of this 2-wheel transporter is inevitable. Simply analyzed – when the economy gets better, those who have money to spare but could not afford to buy an automobile would opt for a motorcycle as a mode of transport while when the economy is in dire straits, people who can longer afford to buy and maintain automobiles would shift to bikes – therefore bikes will be here to stay and to grow in numbers.

A plant tour for an excuse

Not that we mind, but now it really appears that the invitation of Isuzu Philippines Corporation (IPC) to a number motoring journalists for a 4-day trip to Vietnam to test drive a truck that they would launch locally next year yet and to have a plant tour of Isuzu Vietnam was really more of a junket.

I hope our friends from IPC won’t get me wrong, as none of the invited journalists really mind the highly informative trip and are all very thankful indeed for the much needed break.

Our hosts came in full force – headed by IPC president Keiji Takeda, vice president for corporate business, Art Balmadrid, pr manager Timmy De Leon and very able assistants Ronald “Isuzu Joe” Baladad, Jill Santos, “Chairman” Hermes and from sales Mario Ojales – and that’s as complete as they can come.

Their aim as a group and individually is to make sure our stay in Vietnam would indeed be comfortable, convenient, informative and should absolutely be memorable.

Comfortable – we stayed one to a room at the Sofitel Hotel, one of the best there is in Ho Chi Minh City.

Convenient – they never asked us to take public transport (not even a cab) as we had transport at our beck and call.

Informative – knowing that we have a better performing auto industry is not only informative, it makes us feel good. Our visit to the Vietnam museum opened a lot of eyes among us journalists, who have been bombarded by publicity spins from only one side during their major conflict that cost them millions of lives. Vietnam also has its own to offer for tourists’ sites like those tunnels used by their “freedom fighters” during the war against the US.

Memorable – if you talk of shopping, any other place where unique things can be bought can be memorable to Bulletin motoring editor and SPMJ co-founder Pinky Colmenares. Any place where Sunshine Television (STV) vp for production and another SPMJ co-founder Jenny Bleza can buy something for her son can be memorable. Now for STAR motoring editor Dong Magsajo, Times motoring editor Brian Afuang, Top Gear editor-in-chief Vernon Sarne, Auto Review’s Ron delos Reyes, Bulletin asst. motoring editor and top-notched photo-journalist Anjo Perez, all SPMJ members together with Speed editor-in-chief Manny delos Reyes, Businessworld’s managing editor Arnold Belleza, Business-Mirror’s columnist Al Mendoza, Inquirer’s Charles Buban, Manila Standard Today’s Dino Directo and STAR’s contributing writer Andy Leuterio their memories of the trip would be best recalled by themselves.

I guess our friends from IPC have more or less admitted that the trip was also one way of saying thank you for the motoring media’s “supportive but truthful” reporting about the country’s automotive industry as a whole to include Isuzu Philippines.

Well, truthful reporting is “a day in the office” for most of us. However, thank you IPC for going out of your way to express your appreciation.

Mabuhay! Safety Festival, a huge success

With over a thousand motorcycle riders participating, the Mabuhay! Safety Festival was indeed a rousing success. It had as one of its major guests, Senator Bong Revilla, a staunch advocate of the mandatory use of helmets by those riding motorcycles being the principal author of the law requiring its use. It also had in its program a safety symposium where LTO chief Bert Suansing also shared his views on road safety.

Although I mentioned here last week that SPMJ would fail to make a presentation due to time constraints as most of its members would be in Vietnam and would return Friday evening, barely a day before the event, we managed to put it all together while in Ho Chi Minh City in the evenings while having cocktails. TV producer/host Ron delos Reyes of Auto Review representing the Society of Philippine Motoring Journalists (SPMJ) made the presentation on the media’s role in promoting road safety awareness.

We doff our hats to Honda Safety Driving Center (HSDC) president Kazohiko Ikazoe and general manager Arnel Doria and all the men and women of HSDC for putting the event together. We would need many more of these initiatives if only to create more awareness on road safety.

Hey, it’s next week!

It’s finally here. The Auto Focus Motor Show & Auto Expo starts on Tuesday, November 25 at the Bonifacio Global City. The 7-day motor show (up to December 1), the longest in the country will have the widest array of current model automobiles on display many of which would be available for test drive by the public.

Aside from the “grand display & test drive”, anyone who’s 18 years and above with a valid driver’s license and not a professional karter, racer or rally and slalom driver can join the Auto Focus Gymkhana Precision Driving Competition. For a registration fee of Five Hundred pesos, large cash prizes can be won like P10,000.00 for the champion, P5,000.00 for the runner up and also for the finalists. There’ll also be 7-days of motor show music from the country’s top retro bands with a different band playing nightly.

So, tell me what’s your reason for not going?

Happy Motoring!!!

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