MANILA, Philippines — Believe or not, driving schools today do not follow specific standards in teaching how to drive properly. Unfortunately, the only standard that is reported to being observed by the schools are that they should have a proper classroom, posters of traffic signs, a vehicle that they can use for teaching, an instructor, and of course a business permit.

“Right now there isn’t a local standard to teach people how to drive properly. You see these driving schools say ‘Learn to be an expert driver in five days!’ This is not possible, I mean we train people who have been driving for 20 to 30 years and at the end of the seminar after they come up and shake our hands and say, wow that’s fantastic I learned something new today,” says JP Tuason, president of Tuason Racing School (TRS).

This situation thus just verifies that lack of measures the government implements. Regrettably, this is unacceptable, especially if the issue here is more than just standards but already the safety of drivers and the roads today.

According to the Metro Manila Accident Reporting and Analysis System, in 2010, there were a total of 18,810 traffic accidents, 7,670 of which are fatal and non fatal road accidents. Their reports also show that a total of 12,665 road accidents are caused by human error.

The top three errors in driving are: over speeding, driving under the influence, and not following road rules and regulations.

Integrating driving standards in curriculum

TRS has been involved in safety driving campaigns, teaching both young and experienced drivers the proper and safer way to drive. TRS is one of the first driving institutions that has been accredited by the Automotive Association of the Philippines (AAP) for promoting road safety in their programs.

For the most years of their training program, they’ve been working with Ford Group Philippines (FGP) for its Driving Skills For Life (DFSL) campaign, which targets student drivers.

“One of the things that we’re doing now with the AAP is to put together a standard for driving schools. Their standard is very, very low at the moment. What we’re trying to do is to raise the bar and show them how it should be done,” Tuason says.

Ultimately what TRS is hoping is to integrate road safety in schools.

In other countries like the United States, driving instruction is already integrated in their school system. In the Philippines, most of the drivers learn how to drive through relatives and friends.

"The idea is to educate the people properly, which has been missing at the school level because if you go to other countries they actually integrate road safety classes in their schools systems. So what we're trying to do, we are reaching out through this program to educate people at a young age so they know how to be safer on the or in the car" he shares.

Unfortunately the government is not as cooperative. That leaves the group to rely on the private sector which is more receptive than the government. Currently, several schools have integrated the DFSL program in their curriculums. Some of these schools include Assumption College, Saint Pedro Poveda College and La Salle schools.

“Every year we go to these schools and train the kids and they actually have to write papers on what we talk about. So the schools are starting to realize the importance of this training. There have been plans of integrating it in all of the schools. We have a lot of difficulties with the government.

To be honest with you, we try to stay with the private sector because the government is difficult to coordinate with. We find it is very, very difficult to work with the government. We believe that we can reach more people working in the private sector,” Tuason laments.

Filipinos are not bad drivers, he qualifies. “We’re just poorly educated. The problem is, a lot of people who know how to drive are taught by parents or their friends. Their friends and parents are taught be their friends and parents. At the end of the day, ‘yung nalalaman mo eh ‘yung nalalaman ng lolo ng lolo mo pa diba?”

They didn't know that

In a recent DFSL school seminar held at the Asia Pacific College in Makati City, the program showed what the students are missing in their driving skills. The program talks about basic road safety skills while driving, such as using seatbelts, avoiding distractions, maintaining a three-second distance between vehicles, adequate tire pressure, and so on.

“In general, accidents happen to inexperienced drivers. If you look at the statistics, there’s a higher percentage of getting into an accident if you are in your first two or three years of driving experience. And it’s just because you don’t know what you’re doing,” Tuason shares.

Since DFSL started in 2005 as the Road Safety Campaign, their program has already trained 20,000 people as part of their global campaign, which is a United Nations-recognized program. Apart from conducting it in schools, they also conduct this among their customers and employees.

Sophomore Marketing and Advertising student Samantha Siquijor was surprised to discover facts about driving she never knew before. She started driving at age 16 by herself and was later taught by her father at age 18. She even admitted that she really didn’t take safety driving seriously. She also shares that she recently got into a minor accident along EDSA because she was distracted by her cell phone.

“I learned a lot. I learned the importance of using the seatbelt which I don’t use. And also basic stuff that I never focused on like the yellow light and the safety of handbrake. The seatbelt issue, it was really shocking, I really didn’t know it could affect you that much,” says the 20-year-old student.

In the seminar, TRS showed photos and video clips to clearly illustrate what may happen in case of accidents. For example, following traffic rules like driving at the required speed limiton a street is optimal due to specific reasons based on the location.

A video was shown, in slow motion, where a driver overspeeds at just five miles per hour, over the required speed limit, he hits a child crossing the road. It explains that overspeeding can cause accidents especially if the roads are not built or intended for speed driving.

Twenty-year-old Lendell Joie Cabe, a senior Business Management student, learned driving at 10 years old through his school service driver and his dad. What he remembers learning is the “Three-second rule” wherein vehicles should maintain a safe three-second distance between each other.

“Guilty din ako sa traffic light, sa yellow light. I step on the gas more often than releasing it. Siguro I will become more of a defensive driver more and hindi na ako masyadong maga-idle,” he says. Cabe drives from his home to school and vice versa every day. He has also experienced a minor road accident at one point.

“At the end of the day we’re not just about cars, as a responsible company, we also have to take care the people who drive our cars and also the people around our cars. It’s just the one of the things we do to help,” shares Anika Salceda-Wycoco, FGP AVP for Communications.

“The profile of the kids that we go to, if they don’t drive now, they’d eventually will. If they are not driving now, their families own cars. So the idea is to basically educate them or at least pass on information that they can use to educate their drivers or parents. The end goal is to educate and make the streets safer for everybody,” Tuason ends.