Last night, some of my collegues and I gave a farewell dinner to three graduate students from a university based in New York that did some research for us here in the Philippines.

At one point, our conversation drifted to the Pinoy (and Pinay) drivers. Since they were here for a good number of weeks and have done land travel extensively, they had funny and interesting stories about their experiences with Philippine drivers.

All in all, they had a contrasting conclustion: the Pinoys are arguably the best drivers in the world and also the scariest.

They marvelled at the driving skill of drivers here in the Philippines as well as their general knowledge about automobiles, which became useful when they got stuck for a few hours out in the boonies somewhere due to a mechanical problem. They said that, in the US, when that happens the driver either leaves the car or has it towed. Now, I don't know if this true or not but they say their admire the Pinoy's knowledge of their rides.

They also said that they had hair-raising moments while on the road, when their ride was nearing the point of an accident wating to happen due to the "skill" of their drivers. .

They also liked the courtesy and kindness of Pinoys. Apparently, they're used to drivers who yell at each other at the slightest traffic "provokation".

There was also a mention of a few automobiles that they liked, and said that were not available in the U.S. A few of these were the Rav 4, the Crosswind and the Revo . (US based tsikoteers: wala bang Rav 4 dyan?). They liked the Honda Civic hands down. They also said that it is now the most stolen car in the U.S. This true?

So, hats of to Juan (and Juana) Dela Cruz, the Pinoy (and Pinay) drivers. basta tsikot, patok talaga ang Pinoy.