Disclaimer: I have not been driving for 40 years. I only celebrated the 10th anniversary of my 38th birthday this year. I did, however, closely witness the changes that happened over the last four decades.

I still remember my dad’s red 2-door Mitsubishi Galant that could magically fit five humans in the back. No one questioned it — kids, groceries, a stray cousin or two — all in. Our van once climbed to Baguio in the 1980s with 17 passengers plus luggage. It was normal. After marrying a race car driver and working in the automotive business for the last 26 years — both as an entrepreneur and automotive columnist — I’d say I had a front-row seat to how getting from point A to point B has evolved.

WHAT WE LOST — And didn’t realize we’d miss

The Joy of Getting Lost

Before GPS, “lost” was an adventure. You asked the sari-sari store boy for directions — “Diretso lang po tapos liko sa may puno.” There was always a tree involved.

Today? Waze barks orders like a drill sergeant. We obey like scared cadets.

Real Map Skills

Folding those massive paper maps was origami for grown-ups. My husband and I once drove from Atlanta to Chicago using nothing but a paper map and my Outlet Shopping Radar. The good news: we found all the outlets. The not-so-good news: we got lost several times.

Fast Drives

Traffic wasn’t that bad. Going to Greenhills from Quezon City took 25–30 minutes. We could go to Makati or Alabang without packing an overnight bag.

Crank Windows

Inconvenient? Yes. Reliable? Absolutely. Plus, an arm workout. Today, it’s “Ma’am, power window repair po.”

Discovering New Towns and Shopping on the Side of the Road

Before our modern highways, buying local produce during road trips was a highlight — and sometimes even the destination.

WHAT WE GAINED — The stuff that actually made life better

Safety Tech

Airbags, ABS, traction control, blind-spot monitoring — miracles wrapped in metal. Forty years ago, “seatbelt optional” was a lifestyle.

Integrated Navigation That Works

No more shortcuts suggested by manong guard that lead to a dead end.

Fuel Efficiency

We’ve gone from 5 km/L gas guzzlers to hybrids doing 20 km/L. Even our wallets are happy.

Comfort We Didn’t Know We Needed

Massage seats. Ventilated seats. Cabin purifiers. Your tita’s Corolla in the ’90s definitely didn’t have a spa inside.

Women Drivers

Forty years ago, they were rare. Today, women are an equal — and powerful — force in the automotive market.

Mom Tech

Power tailgates, 360° cameras, wireless CarPlay. Clearly invented by engineers who finally realized moms run the world.

Better Roads… Sometimes

NLEX, SLEX, Skyway — proof that we can do things right.

(We just wish the rest of the country got the memo.)

WHAT’S WORTH KEEPING — And what we should finally start

Better Driving Education

Let’s be honest: a lot — maybe even most — people who get a driver’s license aren’t really ready for it. Driving on public roads is a big deal, and we need to treat that privilege with more seriousness and stricter standards.

Infrastructure That Supports Real Road Trips

Filipinos love road trips; the roads don’t always love us back. We need safer provincial highways, clean rest stops, decent lighting, good signage, and EV chargers.

A beautiful country deserves infrastructure that matches.

Road Courtesy

We learned how to take turns, say thank you, and avoid hurting each other back in kindergarten. These same principles should guide us on the road. Yet today, everyone seems ready to fight for every inch of pavement. We need to bring courtesy back.

See Also

The top 40 Filipino athletes of the last century

Teaching Road Safety From Young to Old

Road safety isn’t just for drivers. It’s for bikers, pedestrians, commuters — everyone who uses the road. It should be included in school curricula, the same way earthquake drills became standard from kindergarten to senior citizens.

Motorbike and Bike Lanes (Not Just Paint)

More and more commuters are hopping on two wheels because traffic is getting out of hand. We need to make room for this growing group to keep things moving safely. Right now, everyone’s just aggressively fighting for every bit of space they can get.

THE ROAD AHEAD

After four decades on the road, we’ve lost some simplicity but gained safety, comfort, and possibility. And as cars got smarter, we started noticing what hasn’t changed: flooding, poor transport planning, corruption scandals — issues that should’ve been left behind ages ago.

We’re not a third-world country pretending to be rich.

We’re a potential first-world nation being gaslit into thinking we’re poor.

Imagine what we could gain if we lost the corrupt leaders, gained dedicated ones, and revived our Filipino values of honor, integrity, and malasakit.

Cars evolve. Roads evolve.

It’s time our governance did, too.

Because after 40 years on the road, one thing is clear:

The Philippines deserves a smoother ride — and far better drivers at the wheel.