Appalling Driving

Driving in and around Dipolog can be a nerve-wracking business.  To say the standard of driving is appalling would be an understatement.  The saving grace is that most of the traffic consists of motor-cabs (motor-bikes with sidecars).  They serve as taxis and buses for the people of Dipolog.  Motor-cabs go very slowly so generally if you are in a car, you feel relatively safe.  The worry is more that you might injure someone rather than be injured yourself.

Nevertheless it can still be a little like an old-fashioned dodgem ride making the three kilometres ride from our house in Sicayab to the centre of Dipolog.  Motor cab drivers are always on the look out for passengers so will suddenly pull up without signalling.  (No-one signals in Dipolog.)  Or do a U-turn.  Or stop and chat to a friend.  Or emerge from a side lane without bothering to see if anyone is coming along the main road.

There is a pecking order among vehicles in Dipolog.  And believe me, size matters.  The bigger you are, the more attention people pay to you.  So if you are in a car, and you wish to cross a main road from a side street, you just start crossing and the motorcabs will give way.  So will the motor-cycles (referred to as 'motor singles' here).  But the cars and vans won't.  Of course, if you are wimpish or polite and just wait for a gap in the traffic, you could be there all day !  

The most terrifying vehicles are the buses of the Rural Transit company.  They operate between Dipolog and other cities in Mindanao.

Last week, when we were travelling into town, a bus came right up behind us, really close and very threatening.  Then it overtook us and several other vehicles even though there were many vehicles coming the other way.  They were forced off the main road onto the side verge to avoid a head-on collision with this monster of the road. 

But worse was to come a couple of days later when we were returning from Dapitan City to Dipolog.  This is a beautiful mountainous road.  Beautiful but potentially very dangerous. We have travelled it a few times at night which is a fairly hair-raising experience as about 20 per cent of vehicles don't bother with lights !  Anyway, on this occasion, it was the middle of the afternoon. We were  going along a particularly twisty part of the road with double yellow lines meaning that overtaking was not allowed.  Suddenly a rural transit bus appeared on the wrong side of the road, overtaking.  It had zoomed round a blind corner, ignoring the double yellow lines.  We were forced to break suddenly.  Luckily we were going slowly and were a little way from the bend.  Otherwise the bus would have crashed into us.  Irresponsible, dangerous driving.  

That moment was our most frightening so far in the Philippines.