MMDA acquires 64 motorcycles, 50 utility vehicles

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has recently acquired 64 motorcycle units and 50 sports utility vehicles (SUVs) for its personnel, a ranking agency official said yesterday.

Angelito Vergel de Dios, executive director of the MMDA Traffic Operations Center, said the motorcycle units would be used by traffic enforcers, particularly traffic investigators.

"Mobility of the investigators is very important so that we could remove vehicles in an accident in 15 minutes, as ordered by MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando," Vergel de Dios said.

Fernado earlier said accident areas with stalled vehicles must be cleared in 15 minutes to prevent traffic build-up on the road, especially on EDSA.

Before the purchase of the new vehicles, there are only 150 serviceable motorcycle units, 14 SUVs, two prison vans, four ambulances, five mobile patrols and three personnel carriers being used throughout Metro Manila, Vergel de Dios said.

He disclosed that a portion of a loan package granted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to the national government funded the procurement of the new vehicles.

Thirty-two motorcycle units have already been delivered. The rest are expected to arrive within the week.

Meanwhile, Vergel de Dios announced that the MMDA will no longer sketch traffic accident scenes but traffic enforcers will instead outline the four corners of the vehicles involved in a road accident as part of the investigation.

Thus, MMDA traffic enforcers are armed with number chalk, which does not get erased easily, when responding to traffic accidents.

Traffic investigators can always go back to the accident scene for their investigation, he added. – Nikko Dizon