MMDA buys own speed tracking guns

MANILA, Philippines - The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has been forced to buy two brand-new handheld speed radar guns after the Tollways Management Corp. (TMC) recalled two lidar radar guns it lent the agency when the MMDA started enforcing a speed limit along Commonwealth Avenue last Tuesday, an official said yesterday.

MMDA assistant general manager for operations Emerson Carlos said yesterday the agency and TMC are still negotiating the extended lease of the radar guns, which costs P500,000 each.

The TMC took back its radar guns when its partnership with the MMDA ended last Thursday.

Carlos said the MMDA bought two new radar guns that are not as expensive as TMC’s and they are now used by MMDA traffic enforcers along Commonwealth Ave.

The MMDA has been using the radar guns to tag drivers who violate the 60-kilometer per hour speed limit imposed last Tuesday along the 12.4-kilometer Commonwealth Avenue.

MMDA chairman Francis Tolentino argues that 60-kilometer per hour speed limit benefits senior citizens and parents driving their children to school using Commonwealth Avenue in the morning.