Why are Filipinos such bad drivers?

[Happyhorn52]

Are we bad people because we’re bad drivers, or are we bad drivers because we’re bad people to begin with?

https://visor.ph/wisdom/why-are-filipinos-such-bad-drivers/?

Edited July 25, 2019 by Happyhorn52

[jimeve]

2 hours ago, Happyhorn52 said:

Are we bad people because we’re bad drivers, or are we bad drivers because we’re bad people to begin with?

https://visor.ph/wisdom/why-are-filipinos-such-bad-drivers/?

You're not bad people, just bad drivers. 

[robert k]

The rule of many is devil take the hindmost. I think those are also the people who cut in line, anywhere. I'm disgusted with all the ones who drive on the shoulder knowing that the first tree or parked car they will have to stop the normal traffic lane to let them back in. The normal traffic lane could move at a decent pace if not for having to let in all the drivers from the shoulder who think they are getting one over on everyone else. They just don't care. I have given up caring about them. If nobody let them back in, they would learn to maintain the traffic lane. I suspect they cause a fair number of accidents. In my book, that makes them bad people. Not all are bad, but there are more than a few that are totally discourteous and I can't believe that it only applies when they are driving.

As an example, there was a driver who was behind me in the left hand turn lane coming to a "T" intersection. He got over in the right hand turn lane and started turning left, went through parking spaces off the road then started forcing his way back in. I maintained my lane but but he didn't care, there was a bus ahead and a string of cars behind.. Judicious use of my brakes let him get away with only a scratch but he blamed me for the accident and wanted me to pay for his paint even though he had just bragged that he was a doctor, bragged that his 3 year old car was"New" and he refused to show me his insurance. I asked him for his insurance several times, he had none. His reasoning was that he had the right of way because the nose of his car was ahead of mine, even though he wasn't in the traffic lane. I finally decided that I could either leave or call the police and I decided to just leave, replace my turn signal lens and get on with life. It was a new experience though, that was the first collision with a Filipinos vehicle where they stopped, there have been 7 so that would be 6 hit and runs, if you counted the one that kept going to his destination 40 meters away (his front brake wasn't working and his slipper got caught on the foot peg so he couldn't use the rear brake and he had a passenger who was holding a computer tower and they were going way too fast)( so he used the side of my freshly painted vehicle to scrub off some velocity?). I will let you be the judge if hit and runs make you a bad person. Most are not like that but there certainly is no shortage of them.

[robert k]

Now that I have read the article, I'm pretty sure he nailed it with the Taxi Er, I mean ambulance that I always see lights and sirens at lunch time, same one.

[Tommy T.]

3 hours ago, robert k said:

Judicious use of my brakes let him get away with only a scratch but he blamed me for the accident and wanted me to pay for his paint even though he had just bragged that he was a doctor, bragged that his 3 year old car was"New" and he refused to show me his insurance.

Robert... I have seen that sort of action countless times. Lately, CTTMO seems to do emphasis busts of drivers doing exactly that sort of thing at a few intersections here - going straight and cutting into traffic again from turn lanes, turning left or right from across the road in exactly the wrong lane - that cheers my heart. But, sadly, that behaviour is not limited to Philippines, just more common and blatant here. Constant patrols and enforcement would settle things down a lot, I believe, if they were enacted. I think also that even the sporadic enforcement is working a bit... By the way, I think you are lucky he wasn't a senator or barangay captain...

Have you noticed that all taxis (at least here in Davao) now have CCTV cameras and monitors with memory? Many regular drivers are getting them too. I can only think it is to provide evidence for when there is a crash? Maybe those will slow down the taxi drivers, at least? (yes...I know... I said MAYBE).

 Please forgive the aside: On hwy 520 in Seattle, there is a bottleneck at a bridge. People tried to sneak in using the right HOV lane and make like they just were entering traffic from the entrance ramp that happened to be right there. State Patrol routinely busted people for that and, I don't remember the fine, but is was enough that you didn't want to get caught.

Back on topic...

I am not criticizing you, but I would advise you, Robert, to consider being a bit more cautious and just let the cheaters go, at least a little bit, even though it goes against your grain. A horn honk would not seem out of order, just not a long irritated blast. I see many incidents of road rage here and in USA. People are getting killed or seriously hurt from road rage. Tempers seem to run hot with many drivers here... So what's their hurry? Why does a five second faster trip make a difference?

Two days ago I was driving in the middle of three lanes when a jeepney started to pull out from the right lane right in front of me. I veered left and blasted the horn to warn him that I was there... He would have hit me if I had not evaded. So I kept along my way, right at the 40 kph speed limit and he came roaring up past me in the left lane then - very close to me - passed me, then did a couple of hard cuts to the right in front of me... So he won! He got in front of me and showed me he was The Man and could and would do what he wants.Fortunately he turned soon the opposite way from my direction.

I had a guy in the left turning lane next to me at a stop light. When the light changed, I gunned it, just because I was in a bad mood and I sensed that he was one of those cheaters. The guy in the left gunned it too, but probably did not expect me to not be another slow sheep? Boy, was he pissed when he had to cut in behind me. In retrospect, it was a really stupid thing for me to do and I won't repeat. I thought about road rage then and always will. 

[Ranger Andy]

I don’t believe that filipinos receive proper driving education and training, plus I’ve been told that the driving skills test is done solely in the LTO parking lots, and not on the actual streets where they will drive.  In the US and other countries, the driving skills test is given in actual traffic (on actual roads and in real time traffic).

[Tommy T.]

21 minutes ago, Ranger Andy said:

I don’t believe that filipinos receive proper driving education and training, plus I’ve been told that the driving skills test is done solely in the LTO parking lots, and not on the actual streets where they will drive.  In the US and other countries, the driving skills test is given in actual traffic (on actual roads and in real time traffic).

And they will knock off points if you even fail to actually turn your head both ways - not just use your eyes alone - to check for oncoming traffic when approaching an intersection.

I also know as fact that many "drivers" fail the written or driving exam initially, but pay maybe 1k and suddenly they pass. It is also known as a scam by some of the examiners to fatten their meager monthly pay...

How many times do I wait at stoplights behind someone - all of us turning left - and they don't turn on the green light with no opposing traffic, only on the arrow. This, when there is a large sign next to the light saying, "Left turn must yield on green." But otherwise, I am guessing the more aggressive drivers will just turn left on green regardless of any oncoming traffic? Sheesh!!!

Just gave the topic of Filipinos being generally bad drivers another thought...

They seem like Jekyl and Hide... When at work, play, meals, church, anytime, they are mostly really nice, warm, friendly people. Put them behind the wheel of their Fortuner or Hlux and many of them turn aggressive and nasty. The bikers are crazy - some of them super fast. I think they are going for Darwin Awards...

Edited July 26, 2019 by Tommy T.

[robert k]

49 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

 

I am not criticizing you, but I would advise you, Robert, to consider being a bit more cautious and just let the cheaters go, at least a little bit, even though it goes against your grain. A horn honk would not seem out of order, just not a long irritated blast. I see many incidents of road rage here and in USA. People are getting killed or seriously hurt from road rage. Tempers seem to run hot with many drivers here... So what's their hurry? Why does a five second faster trip make a difference?

I don't go out of my way to be a proper "richard" but if someone is going to kill you over a scratched quarter panel, they were probably going to have you killed anyway, just hadn't got around to it yet. If I thought that were so, I'd live somewhere else. Possibly the third time I asked for his insurance information while I was already trying to hand him mine was pushing it, or possibly when I told him you really should have insurance if you were going to drive around causing wrecks. In retrospect, maybe I should have summoned the police and let them tell him. Possibly put in a claim for the repairs on my car, I think it cost around P700.

[Tommy T.]

I respect your feelings and think I understand them.

And like I wrote before, there is road rage everywhere these days - or maybe just more reporting of it? So I don't think moving is the answer... I have slowed down my driving and am more cautious than ever. A guy I heard about a few years ago was hit, while stopped, by another driver. The other driver (Filipino) blamed the foreigner, "If you weren't here, then there would not have been an accident." How can you dispute that logic?

P700? Not worth the trouble. And from what I have read here and heard from others, maybe you call the police, the other guy slips them 2k and suddenly it's your fault for being there? I have also been advised that sort of a "rule" is that if your car is even one cm in front of another, you have right-of-way, no matter what you are doing, no matter where you are... Is this true?

[JDDavao II]

If you don't like how Filipinos drive, stay off the sidewalk!