I’d like to take a break from the comic book hero/video game hero melee to share some thoughts on the Filipino driver. Take a look at this piece of machinery:    

These bad boys are nothing to sneeze at. Mastering these behemoths takes a lot of skill. Sure, you may scoff at my bold statement but take time to consider this:

1. The Jeepney driver is inredibly skilled because first of all, the driver does a lot of OTHER things while he drives. He takes the fare passengers give him. Then he has to calculate how much the fare is and return appropriate change. He has to attune his hearing so that he will easily pick out when a passengers yells out “para!” so he will stop the jeep so that the passenger may get off.

2. Next, jeepney drivers don’t have the luxury of rear view mirrors. Everything is pure estimation and calculation.

3. Gauges? What gauges? All the gauges on the jeep’s almost non-existent dashboard are purely for display. Once again, estimation and calculation.

4. Lastly, and probably the most uncomfortable fact is the jeepney driver’s position as he drives: conventional driving lets you sit DIRECTLY in front of your steering wheel, on the other hand, jeepney drivers sit slightly to the left of the steering wheel because if he sits directly in front of the wheel, he won’t have enough room to maneuver his arms. So in short, tabingi. 

The same thing goes when driving a bus (ONLY IN THE PHILIPPINES)

So, if you can drive in Manila, YOU CAN DRIVE ANYWHERE.   

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 18th, 2007 at 3:30 pm and is filed under Random. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.