Alternatives to the tollways in the Philippines

Most people outside the Philippines and even some inside probably wonder why riding the freeways is so important to us. In most countries the fact that 77% of motorcycle accidents are caused by vehicles pulling out of side turnings, turning across the road into a side turning, etc is plenty good enough reason because these causes simply do not exist on tollways. A report by Dynamic Research Inc, USA shows that in every country researched, tollways are by far the safest roads for motorcycles. In some cases the alternative routes have over 100 times more accidents.

In the countries researched, the alternative routes are beautiful, almost perfect roads compared to most roads leading out of Manila. The roads we are forced to ride because we are banned from the freeways are so bad that even Simon Milward, after riding through 27 mostly third world countries was shocked and a little frightened when he experienced for himself just how dangerous they are.

Its hard to get pictures when you are struggling through choatic heavy traffic trying to avoid swerving jeepneys and tricycles doing u-turns with no signals and often no lights at night but the following should give you some idea of the biker's hell that these roads are. Believe it or not the people who work on the roads actually pour loose gravel into potholes and trenches that immediately gets spread accross the road creating skid pans for any vehicle, especially motorcycles.

I once passed a stretch of road on a steep hill where road contractors stood and watched while buses, trucks, cars etc going up the hill were sliding all over the road with their wheels spinning and slipping on loose gravel. We took our motorcycles off the road and used the unpaved part - it was safer!

Recently, a group of riders found the alternative route to the South Expressway was closed at a bridge so they did the obvious thing and took a chance on using the Expressway. What else could they do? They were all very carefull to ride safely and within the speed limit obeying all rules of the road but the tollway authorities blocked all traffic and waited for the riders to filter through. They then booked them all for reckless driving!

The following six pictures were taken by a rider (many thanks Jobo) to show us the closed road that forced these riders to try the Expressway.

(82K) 640 x 423	Approaching the bridge there is a "road is closed to traffic" sign at the side of the road but with motorcycles banned from the only alternative route (the Expressway) they have no choice but to try to get through.	(83K) 640 x 423	Closer to the bridge is the area where all the jeepneys and tricycles turn around. An area that gets extremely chaotic.

(85K) 640 x 423	If you manage to get through the barricade of market stalls you can actually get onto the bridge.	(91K) 640 x 423	If you look closely here you can see a rider trying to squeeze a small motorcycle through a gap by the fence. Anything bigger would be impossible.

(71K) 640 x 423	This is the other side of the fence where you can just about make out part of a small motorcycle the rider is trying to squeeze through the gap.	(72K) 640 x 423	The other side of the bridge. The same chaos of jeepneys and tricycles and pedestrians.

The above is a simple case of there being two possible routes. One closed to traffic but you may be able to push a small motorcycle through the gaps and the other where bikes are banned and they will stop all the traffic to book you for reckless driving however safely you ride. Other groups in the past have been stopped and threatened by tollway patrols armed with loaded guns.

More typical situations are shown in the following pictures where traffic chaos and dangerous road surfaces are the norm.

This shot was taken on the alternative route to the Coastal Road. Depending on the time of day you could be in this hell for one to two hours while the alternative, the coastal road tollway, is no more than about five minutes safe and comfortable cruising.

Riders have been killed and injured on the Service Roads that run alongside the North and South Luzon Expressways and the accidents have been pretty much what you would expect. Buses, jeepneys and cars pulling out of side turnings without looking, turning across in front of the bike into a side turning, u-turning without warning and skidding on loose gravel spread over the road by contractors, etc. The last time a large group of riders tried to ride to Baguio without using the expressway most turned back exhausted after hours of chaotic conditions, deep mud, damaged motorcycles and accidents.

Every study ever done anywhere in the world proves that tollways are the safest environment for motorcycles (or any vehicle) and that bikes are involved in less accidents than any other vehicles. While buses and trucks that slaughter dozens of people every year continue to careen down the hard shoulder at high speed with bald tires, faulty, if any lights and who knows what else wrong with them.

It is a ban based on ignorance and misconceptions and the world is laughing at the Philippines while riders continue to be killed and injured.

The following two pictures are not taken on roads that are alternatives to tollways but they are fairly typical of the sort of thing we expect when riding in the city or on roads other than tollways.

We have received emails from riders in the US saying they don't like riding the freeways because they prefer to ride the alternative routes so what are we complaining about? The above gives you some idea of why. We dont have the beautiful scenic, perfect condition alternative roads without jeepneys, tricycles and dilapidated wreck driven by people who have never taken a test. Our freeways are not as good as the backstreets and country roads in the US but they are the best we have. Many overseas riders take one look at our alternative routes to the freeways and are amazed that anyone would dare ride in such dangerous conditions. When we ride the tollways we are not stupid enough to believe there will be no motorcycle accidents. There will be accidents of course but simple common sense and statistics show that riding the tollways will save lives and as a bonus riders from overseas will even come here to boost tourism.