Metro driving 101: How to get past U-turn slots, concrete barriers

Maneuvering past U-turn slots and concrete barriers scattered all over Metro Manila’s major roads is now a “hot lesson” in driving schools, with instructors teaching students different techniques.

Driving instructors, who requested anonymity for fear of losing their jobs, said the presence of U-turn slots and concrete barriers has complicated actual driving lessons.

“Standard driving technique requires you stay on your lane but the problem arises when concreted barriers and U-turns suddenly emerge at a distance,” an instructor said.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) set up the U-turn slots and concrete barriers to ease traffic in the metropolis, particularly along EDSA, but motorists have crashed with alarming frequency into the structures, particularly at night.

The Land Transportation Office’s driving manual makes no mention of the structures, and instructors are left with the job of teaching would-be drivers their own way of dealing with the MMDA’s traffic regulators.

Some instructors favor driving on the outer lane, other instructors tell students to just follow the vehicle ahead of them, while another school teaches students to stay in the innermost lane to get ahead of other motorists.

A staff member of a driving school said the U-turn slots, concrete barriers, and fences along EDSA has puzzled foreign nationals among the school’s students.

According to a driving instructor, one foreign national he taught would panic and make her vehicle stall each time she would negotiate a U-turn slot because other motorists would try to ease her out of her lane. The student would then become furious since motorists behind her would blow their horns as she tried to restart her vehicle.