Speed limit good for seniors, parents with kids - MMDA

MANILA, Philippines –  Despite receiving flak from some sectors, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said yesterday the 60-kilometer per hour (kph) speed limit along Commonwealth Avenue will stay because it benefits elderly motorists and parents driving their children to school.

“We have senior citizens driving along Commonwealth, so 60 kph is just right,” he said. “Our studies show that 60 kph is the right speed for drivers, especially for senior citizens. Our aim is to save lives by minimizing accidents.”

Tolentino added that “fatal accidents are considered high during the night and wee hours of the morning.”

He brushed aside suggestions that the speed limit be adjusted because it slows down traffic, saying that since it was imposed last Tuesday, no road accidents have been reported along the 12.4-kilometer “killer highway.”

However, the MMDA may have a problem enforcing the speed limit starting today. The Tollways Management Corp. (TMC), which lent the agency two of its handheld lidar speed tracking guns for free, said yesterday was supposed to be the last day the MMDA gets to use the devices.

TMC’s Kiko Dagohoy said in a statement that TMC and MMDA officials are looking into extending the partnership and lending the MMDA more speed radar guns, which costs P500,000 each.

He said the guns are operated by trained TMC personnel, aided by MMDA traffic enforcers.

Tolentino said that before the speed limit was set, the MMDA would receive reports of at least two major traffic accidents along Commonwealth Avenue per day. Many of the reported incidents resulted in serious injuries and deaths, the MMDA said.

With a span of 18 lanes, the Commonwealth Avenue is considered as the country’s widest highway so far. It starts from inside the Quezon Memorial Circle inside and passes through Philcoa, Tandang Sora,  Balara, Batasan Hills and ends at the Quirino Highway in Novaliches.

The MMDA imposed the speed limit and created segregated lanes for buses, jeepneys and motorcycles along the highway to curb road accidents.

According to the MMDA, a study by the University of the Philippines-National Center for Transportation Studies showed that 57 percent of the accidents along Commonwealth Avenue were caused by “human error, primarily by overspeeding, overtaking or excessive lane-changing, inattentiveness and aggressive driver behavior.”

MMDA records show that in 2010, 21 persons died and 608 more were hurt in road accidents along Commonwealth Avenue.