Driving on the Busy Streets of Manila

Manila's busy streets are notorious for having really rude, reckless and irresponsible drivers. Add that to the low quality roads that is quite a common sight even on highways and national roads. I hate to admit it but every time I go out and drive, there're always at least a couple of drivers who break road laws and regulations. It takes a bit of knowledge, preparation and skill in order to drive safely along Manila's thoroughfares.

Have you driven your car on EDSA (Manila's main thoroughfare)? You will most likely notice that cars change lanes abruptly and sometimes they move over 2 lanes or more. This is quite dangerous as some do it without regards to other vehicles. The best way to drive on such a road is to give more distance between you and the vehicle in front of you.

If you've experienced driving in Manila, you must have experienced a busy intersection where cars try to edge each other out by mere centimeters. If you don't have the guts to tailgate within a few centimeters, the cars on the other side will pass along and you'd probably have to wait until the road clears before you can enter the lane.

Aside from vehicles, you have to worry about the people crossing the streets. There are a lot of people who cross the street anytime they want to. It's either they are too lazy to go to a pedestrian lane or didn't see it. They cross the street slowly and some of them even diagonally. Even on EDSA where there are at least 5 lanes. You can see daring pedestrians crossing the street just like playing a dangerous game of tag with fast cars.

Public vehicles such as the Jeepneys, Buses, Taxis and FX have a reputation of being annoying obstructions on major roads. It's not all of them though but a lot of them are. If they see a passenger waving at them, some of them won't hesitate to cut in front of you just to get that fare. If a passenger asks the driver to stop, some of the drivers would stop even in the middle of road to drop off passengers. There are lots of drivers who drive really fast without considering his passengers especially public bus drivers. You can literally see the bus sway as it changes lanes at 60 kilometers per hour or above.

When it comes to road rules, make sure you follow them. Don't counter flow, beat the red light, turn left or right if there's a no left/right turn, etc. Some cops and traffic enforcers enjoy the pleasure of pulling cars over. Talk to them nicely and you'll be fine. Don't argue if you know you are wrong. It's really good that the president has a new directive to stop cops and traffic enforcers from forcing bribes out of motorists who incur traffic violations.

Just remember that even if you are the most careful driver in the world, you still do not have control over other drivers. The good thing about being a careful and responsible driver is that you have a much lesser risk of getting involved in an accident. But of course, just to be fair, there are also quite a lot of very nice drivers in Manila. They follow rules and apply defensive driving all the time.