MANILA — Over 7,000 motorcycles are sold every week in the Philippines, which points to a rapidly expanding community of riders. However, this means other developments as well: an increase in the number of road accidents happening every year (20,000), including the percentage of road fatalities involving motorcycles (23 percent), and the number of new riders and motorcycle owners with little to zero knowledge in safety riding.
It is to address this challenge—and to take the lead in promoting road safety—that Honda Philippines, Incorporated (HPI) sustains its Honda Motorcycle Safety Riding and Learn to Ride Caravan, launched November of 2010.
In cooperation with HPI’s network of local dealers and partners in various regions nationwide, the caravan is a continuous series of educational activities designed to minimize human errors on the road, and cultivate a community of safe, knowledgeable riders who can properly manage risks and vulnerabilities posed by the local traffic environment.
The caravan includes test rides, safety riding seminars, service check-ups, and free mini-courses led by riding instructors selected and certified by HPI.
It has been held in cities and provinces from all over Luzon to as far as the communities in Visayas and Mindanao. Since the launch, HPI has expanded the reach of the caravan to include zero-knowledge riders (those without any experience in handling and driving a motorcycle) and female users, even appointing female instructors to help encourage more women to participate.
These instructors have been trained by HPI’s safety driving school, the Honda Safety Driving Center (HSDC).
To Honda Philippines, providing safe means of transportation does not end at manufacturing motorcycles; it also extends to helping motorcycle owners learn and develop fundamental riding proficiencies to become careful, disciplined riders.
Apart from the caravan, HPI also launched educational initiatives to keep Philippine roads—as well as the users of these roads—as safe and injury-free as possible.
Free Learn to Ride activities, for example, are held for walk-in individuals at the HSDC in Parañaque City from Tuesdays to Sundays (8 A.M. to 5 P.M.).
There are also free safety riding seminars, lectures, dealer sub-instructor training, and a video campaign on HPI’s website, produced in partnership with ABS-CBN Foundation’s Bantay Kalikasan.
To help build the foundation for road users of all kinds and skill levels, HPI gives basic riding tips and strategies like mastering proper riding postures to help manage balancing, turning, timing, position and spacing until you go out on public roads; breaking-in of the motorcycle and keeping it in tip-top condition to remove all risks related to faulty machinery and making safety begin and end with the rider, even understanding thoroughly the owner’s manual based on the bike’s specific mechanical needs.
Of course, wearing proper riding attire (gloves, boots, eye protection, elbow and knee pads and of course, the helmet) will be taught. Defensive riding, including anticipation of sudden turns by other riders and more importantly, following all traffic laws, observing of traffic and road signs and speed limits, is also a must—even if others don’t.
Just like the Learn to Ride activities, these tips and strategies are designed to equip riders with the discipline and safety mindset so crucial on the road. It is the same mindset that HPI believes will create a new generation of responsible road users who ride their motorcycles in ways that protect—instead of take away—lives.
About Honda
Established in 1948, Honda has grown to become the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturer and one of the leading automakers.
With a global network of 492 subsidiaries (as of March 2010) and affiliates accounted for under the equity method, Honda develops, manufactures, and markets a wide variety of products, ranging from small general-purpose engines and scooters to specialty sports cars, earning the company an outstanding reputation from customers worldwide. See www.hondaph.com for more information. —PR