MMDA to enforce speed limit along 'killer highway'

MANILA, Philippines - The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said yesterday it will strictly enforce the new 60-kilometer per hour speed limit along the Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City.

Today is the first day of the speed limit along the 12.4-kilometer road, which has been dubbed a “killer highway” due the large number of road accidents along its stretch.

The MMDA said its enforcers, armed with cameras and speed tracking guns, will man strategic portions of the highway to make sure motorists observe the speed limit. Violators caught on camera and tracked by speed guns will be sent notices within seven days, following the agency’s “no contact” policy.

The MMDA said motorists caught speeding can still contest their violation before the agency’s Traffic Adjudication Board or just pay the P1,200 fine at any Metrobank branch or at the MMDA main office.

License plates of vehicles caught speeding will be posted on the MMDA website and will not be deleted until the fine is paid, said the MMDA.

According to the MMDA, motorists caught speeding for the third time will have their driver’s licenses revoked, under the rules of the Land Transportation Office.

The MMDA added that traffic enforcers will also be implementing lane segregation along Commonwealth Avenue. MMDA chairman Francis Tolentino earlier said that as early as 4:30 a.m. today, around 140 MMDA personnel will be stationed along Commonwealth Avenue to make sure that jeepneys, buses and motorcycles only use their designated lanes.

Under the new lane designations, the rightmost lanes of the highway are for buses. Motorcycles and jeepneys will have to share the second lane next to the bus lane.

The highway’s other five lanes are for private vehicles, with two lanes set as U-turn slots. Tricycles, the MMDA said, are not permitted to use Commonwealth Avenue.

Motorists, both private and public, who will be found violating the lane segregation rule today will simply get warnings from traffic enforcers, the MMDA said yesterday.

The MMDA said the aim of setting a speed limit and lane segregation is to reduce the number of fatalities along the “killer highway.”  According to 2010 statistics, accidents along Commonwealth Avenue accounted for 4.4 percent of total fatalities in Metro Manila.

According to the MMDA’s Road Safety Unit, from January to December 2010, 743 persons figured in road accidents along Commonwealth Avenue. Of this figure, 21 died.

Of the road accidents along Commonwealth Avenue, 942 (34.34 percent) of the accidents happened at night while 1,801 or 65.66 percent happened during the day.

Motorcycles had the most number of incidents along the highway at 329, followed by cars at 210, the MMDA said.