Quote Originally Posted by varga View Post
hi to all

as we do not have a working body stamping facility in the country, perhaps it would also be good if not better for the forum to likewise concentrate on technologies that will push for the creation of a Filipino concept vehicle.

a car body & interior design simply won't push manufacturers to create a vehicle solely for the Filipino market (the AUVs are currently serving that purpose quite sufficiently).

perhaps it would be good for our product vision to venture into specific car safety technologies in order to make a mark in the global car manufacturing marketplace. start with simple and affordable technologies our universities are already working on. good examples would be collision avoidance technologies, self-regulating traffic systems, etc.

i have a bias for this technology because i am a victim of a vehicular accident. i have been quite dependent on my motorized wheelchair for quite some time now. i am quite concerned that the vehicles and road systems we curently rely on use may still be using technologies which can be improved upon on a concept Filipino vehicle.

perhaps this is one way to approach the current concept design dilemma. work around a theme for the concept. aesthetics, form & function are very appealing themes. but i believe safety is one theme we can all agree to work around on.

varga
Hi varga,

Sorry to hear about your accident. I hope you will fully recover.

I, too, was in a near fatal accident some years back. I was sleeping in the front passenger seat when we figured in a head-on collision in Urdaneta Pangasinan. I was actually saved by my seat belt even though this was before the seat belt law. (I was wearing it simply because my friend's bodyguard made me promise to wear it.)

In spite of my seat belt, I suffered a fractured jaw, broken right wrist, broken right knee, fractured right ankle, and internal hemorrhaging. So I am fully aware of the need for safety features in automobiles.

As I have kept reminding the core group, the Filipino life is worth protecting, at the same time we do realize it is a difficult trade-off between making the PhUV affordable for its intended market and simultaneously protecting them when they are using it. This is just one of the issues we need to resolve.

As for self-regulating traffic lights, these rely on two things - sensors and driver discipline. I have already explained to the MMDA GM why they don't work here in the Philippines. Simply put, local drivers do not stay in their lanes. Those who are making a left turn will usually occupy the middle lane as well if there is already a long line turning left. If the left turn green light comes on after the straight green light in the cycle, the system will usually wait for middle lane(s) to clear up before switching to the left turn green light. But since the middle lane is occupied by cars waiting for the left turn green light, the system will reach the maximum allocated time even if traffic is already clear before switching over, thus causing unnecessary delay.

And that is just one example. There are lots of other scenarios, such as cars staying in the left turn lane but actually going straight, thus blocking cars behind from turning left. Ironically, smart systems are simply not smart enough to support such undisciplined stupid behavior.