Safety rules at Honda’s driving school

Safer riding the Honda way begins with classroom instructions.

MANILA, Philippines–You have probably seen this facility if your regularly drive through Bicutan along the South Luzon Expressway. It’s a large white building, at the front of which is an actual road course. Cars or motorbikes would be driving on the course, at a safe pace. This is the Honda Safety Driving Center (HSDC), founded on the premise that an educated, well-prepared driver is the best safety feature any car or motorcycle could have.

Members of the Car Awards Group Inc. (Cagi) gathered one Sunday for a safety riding clinic at the HSDC.

Cagi is comprised of motoring writers from a multitude of publications and is the organization responsible for the Car of the Year-Philippines (Coty-P) awards. The Coty-P awards are considered the most credible handed out in the country, with instrumented test and qualitative ratings both given weight.

In contrast to how most drivers learn in the Philippines (which is by sheer experience on the open road, often giving new meaning to the term school of hard knocks), HSDC seeks to train drivers and riders by teaching first the concepts of safe driving. These are then illustrated with real-life incidents in the classroom. Finally, students are allowed to apply their lessons using Honda machines on the road course.

From amateurs to pros

Students here can mean beginners who don’t know the difference of the clutch from the brake pedal, or experienced drivers who want a refresher course on safer driving. As our course for the day was the safety riding clinic, with a couple of us slated for the basic riding course, the emphasis was on the proper operation of the motorcycle. Although mechanical faults and poor environment contribute to them, 90 percent of traffic accidents are reportedly due to human error.

Student drivers and riders learn to interact safely at the Honda Safety Driving Center along SLEx in Bicutan.

Participants were given a refresher course on how to scan for danger and implement defensive riding techniques. Necessary information such as how to set a motorcycle’s side mirrors and what to check on the bike before riding were taught as well. Posture and proper riding stance, including how to ride in tandem—or, more properly put, riding pillion style—were illustrated to the class.

Next came the meat of the session, the on-course riding. The HSDC’s expansive driving/riding area proved its worth here. Riders were given the chance to experience acceleration, braking and turning on a variety of road configurations. There was even a working traffic light to simulate proper approaches to and stopping at an intersection.

While the Cagi group was riding on their Honda machines, which included the Beat and Scoopy as well as the apparently coveted Zoomer-X scooter, other learners were going around the course in Honda City cars. The experience of driving with other types of vehicles was invaluable particularly to newbies who had not rode on the open road yet.

The HSDC seeks to provide good driving and riding skills, as well as the attitude and mindset required for the safe operation of a car or motorcycle.