Many years ago I have heard that driving in the Philippines and especially in Metro Manila can be compared with driving in hell. There is even a saying that says: If you can drive a car in Manila, you can drive everywhere in the world.
Metro Manila, or National Capital Region as it is called lately counts more than 13 million people. They all have to go to work or school or otherwise every day. Most of them are using public transport like Jeepneys and Busses. From early morning until late at night, the roads in and around Manila are full with all kinds of vehicles and therefore often congested. As a foreigner I also need to go somewhere from time to time. So I take my car and go on these busy roads.
Getting used to the Filipino style of driving a car, that is what I had to learn. Filipinos blow their horn all the time for a number of reasons, and they sign with their head lights. On crossings or changing lane they sign with their hands in stead of their (often not working) lights. Jeepneys and taxis and busses stop on every place where a passenger is waiting or wants to get of. Especially on street corners sometimes you can see double parked Jeepneys and suddenly also overtaking each other.
So one has to take care every second not to bump or being bumped. You can imagine that one needs six or eight eyes to see what is happening around you. People and vehicles come from everywhere: left, right, front and from the back. While driving you need to be prepared that even the unexpected will happen. There is even no time to look for some other radio channel; but yet people are using their mobile phone to call or compose text messages as if they are alone on the street and being parked, actually they are driving with a speed of 40 kmh or more.
Although officially there are traffic rules and traffic signs, there are only very few places where they are followed. Makati is such place. Police officers are very strict there if a driver doesn’t follow the rules. Probably because most foreign businesses have their residences there and also do the rich people.
In other places drivers do what they want: neglecting traffic lights, parking everywhere, overtaking over solid lines or on the right side etc. The so called High Ways are used for all traffic. Not only cars and busses, but also the everywhere stopping Jeepneys, motorbikes swerving from left to right and back, taxis trying to insert themselves from all directions, bicycles on the left side of the road, or just in the middle and even walking people crossing on every meter of the street usually without watching carefully. And not to mention the tricycles, inserting themselves and driving slowly on the left side of the street or just in the middle. On one way streets don’t be surprised if cars and / or bicycles are coming towards you. If you blow your horn against them they even might get angry at you and block the road completely.
On a 2 lane street you can often see 3 or 4 rows of cars, tricycles, trucks and other traffic, all close to each other. At the same time people crossing the street and you’ll see a lot of double parked cars. There are also the street vendors who walk in between the rows of cars to try to sell their goods, sometimes bringing their small hand cars with boiling stuff like peanuts, fish balls and so on. On the sidewalk you’ll find the street vendors with larger stalls, they have taken their place there, so pedestrians have to use the street as well. The result is that there is always traffic jam in the streets and sometimes you can go faster walking than driving.
Add the bad roads, with holes and cracks and on a lot of street corners large concrete blocks to stop cars from going left or right. After those closed crossings there are usually U-turn slots. A one lane option where a car or other vehicle can turn so on the earlier mentioned crossing can go to the direction he wants. On busy u-turns you see often 3 lanes blocking the rest of the street to take that u-turn. All other traffic has to wait -> more traffic jams.
The technical state of a lot of cars is dubious. Tires don’t have profile anymore, lights are not working, I even doubt if brakes are working well. Car engines are exhausting often black smoke, especially diesel engines from Jeepneys, busses and from motorbikes (tricycles). Private cars mostly seem to be in better technical condition. Even older cars are staying on the road. Sometimes they are rusting and have holes, or full of dents and other damages. Picture this in combination with smoking engines, you can imagine that there is still a lot of work for the government to better this aspect of the Filipino society.
To reduce the traffic and the air pollution in larger cities, they have implemented “color coding”. Why they call it color coding is not clear to me. The system works as follows: every license plate has three letters and three numbers. The last number is the one which says if the car is allowed to drive or not. Numbers 1 and 2 can NOT drive on Mondays, 3 and 4 not on Tuesdays, and so on. Weekends and official holidays there is no color coding. Some cities are strict with the color coding, other cities don’t care. Manila, Makati, Mandaluyong and San Juan are very strict within the Metro Manila. In other cities it depends on the mood and accuracy of the police officers.
I have been travelling through Europe and the US a lot, and always driving my own car. Even big cities like Paris, Berlin, Barcelona, Los Angeles, San Francisco and many others I didn’t have problems driving through. Manila however is different. It really is hell. With an average speed of about 15 km per hour (or lower) it actually would have been better to take public transport. But they are in the same traffic jam as me. The advantage of having your own transportation is that you can put on the air conditioner on, drive with or without music and as loud or silent as you wish, and you don’t have to carry your shopping?s all the way. And you are safe from snatchers if you don’t drive with your windows open and the doors locked. When there is a lot of rain falling, and it continues raining, some parts of Manila will be flooded. Streets are flooded for sometimes hours, and no vehicle can go through. So if there’s lots of rain expected: stay at home (if you don’t like to be stuck or get wet feet).
While waiting for a traffic light or in a traffic jam your car will often be approached by children trying to get money of you. Sometimes they just ask for it, and sometimes the wipe your windows a little. It’s up to you to give them something or not.
So think it over if you like to buy and drive your own car in the Metro Manila area.
See also my post about traffic violations HERE
Filipino time:
Hi Jan,
Indeed after 9 years int he Philippines, there is only one way to drive: defensive – everyone around you are bad drivers, so that you are aware of everything that can happen. But honestly there are 2 more places on earth that are even worse:
-Paris: on the round-abouts and if you are not from Ile-de-France, they will drive you off the rotonde without scrupules … they can even see on the number plate that you are not from around, though you are from somewhere else in France.
- Colombia-Bogota: the worst place I have seen – my car, may freedom counts everywhere except for there… just take a taxi and hope you will get in one piece at your destination.
Still one recommendation for all Filipinos:
Tather then following any driver school in the Philippines, you better off sending ALL drivers for:
- 6 months to Paris and let them practice ont he round-abouts
- 2 months to Germany (longer makes no sence – cvause if they still don’t get it, it is hopless anyway and better leave their car home) to learn discipline and gentlemen act in traffic.
As long as public transportatio is not taken care of in the Philippines cities, there will never be an economic boom relative to the efforts being performed. Bilions of euros are spent daily on inactivity because of people in traffic here, but the government doesn’t get it…
THERE IS MONEY HERE, politicians: grab it!
Jan, send me an email cause I was nto able to respond to your email on InterNatios.
Thanks
Best regards
Joris Claeys.
Terrific site, where did you come up with the information in this blog? Im glad I found it though, ill be checking back soon to see what other articles you have.
Hi. I’d like to thank you for your post, sir. I’m just a newbie on the road and my driving skills are not good yet. I just like to share my first violation which costed me a lot on my allowance. I was planning on turning to the right but i was on the third lane going to the left. However, I still insisted my turn then an office asked me to stop as I turned right. I know it was my mistake. The officer said the ticket would cost me 2,500 and it could get higher once I go to QC because of the seminars, etc. My parents and I were really worried that we didn’t agree for my license to be brought at QC (because we live outside Manila). Being a newbie, I had no idea what that “could be settled here instead” he was talking about. I was so naive at this so I keep asking him how to do that. But he couldn’t answer me directly and instead, he kept on insisting me to have the ticket instead. We paid him P2000 since we have no idea about this kind of transaction plus our car didn’t have a plate number yet – he even commented on the car being new (newly bought). And right now, I really think that that P2000 was really big compared to what you gave. Now that I think of it, I should have just allowed the officer to give me a ticket.
Then this afternoon, I was nearing the intersection when the light turned yellow… then red. But I think that if I stopped at the red light, I would definitely stop inside the intersection which is more troublesome (I think) so I drove ahead instead. An officer asked me to stop and I accepted the ticket, knowing that my parents would get disappointed again. Then he gave me a warning instead since he said that I was just a student. I was really confused at following traffic violations here in the Philippines as well thought I’m already a Filipino. I find it very inconsistent. Or maybe I just lack some driving skills. But mostly, it is very inconsistent! Anyway, sir, thanks for the post! (sorry for the long post)
Hi Kat,
Thanks for sharing your experiences in driving on this site.
Every fine one has to pay for traffic violations is painful money. Lucky my wife was with me almost all the time and she was dealing with the police or traffic enforcers because she speaks the language.
In a city like Manila you have to know exactly where you like to go, so knowing the main routes is essential. Changing lanes at the last moment causes not only traffic, but also the risk of getting caught by a greedy policeman. Sweet talks to the officer will help often, but not always.
The moment they like to write a ticket ask them if they are not willing to change it in a warning. Promise to do better next time. If they insist in getting money without ticket (which is a violation by the officer) always ask him his name or number and write it down. Nine out of ten times he will let you go with a warning.
Now you have a ticket and your driver’s license is confiscated (if it was an police officer, but traffic enforcers are not allowed to confiscate licenses). You have to get your license back at the police station / town hall of the city of violation. This could take several hours, so be prepared.
Lucky for us drivers, police and traffic enforcers are afraid to ask for money because of new regulations implemented by Nonoy Aquino. For that reason you always have to ask their name and number. And do never offer money yourself. If they think that they have to punish you with a ticket, so be it. Try to sweet talk to them, it will help.
But most of all, try to get driving experience as much as possible.
Good luck, INGAT,
Jan
Joris,
Thanks for stopping by on my website.
I have heard that Cairo (Egypt) is also a terrible city to drive, but I haven’t been there to see.
I have been driving in Paris several times and didn’t experience any problems, although the people there are also driving very offensive. I seem to be able to handle that. The most well behaved drivers are in German Cities, but not on their high ways. There they are more arrogant than Filipinos especialy against foreigners. But it might be a good idea to send Filipinos there to learn to drive.
In the Philippines it looks like if they get a drivers license for free when they buy a kilo of rice !!
I have send you a private mail for my mail address.