81 nabbed for breaking Commonwealth Avenue speed limit

MANILA, Philippines - A total of 81 motorists were nabbed by traffic enforcers of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) yesterday for breaking the 60 kilometer-per-hour (kph) speed limit on the portion of the Commonwealth Avenue from the Sandiganbayan complex to Doña Carmen Avenue in North Fairview.

The MMDA said 27 private motorists, 13 taxi drivers, 27 bus drivers, 10 utility vehicle drivers, a motorcyclist, two jeepney drivers and a van driver were made to pay a P1,200 fine for speeding.

Yesterday was the first day of the speed limit’s extension of coverage. The stretch from the Sandiganbayan to Doña Carmen Avenue takes up 2.3 kilometers of the 12.4-kilometer Commonwealth Avenue. 

MMDA chairman Francis Tolentino said the agency decided to expand the coverage of the speed limit on Commonwealth Avenue to step up its campaign against speedsters and to prevent road accidents.

The MMDA enforced the 60-kph limit on the segment of Commonwealth Avenue from Philcoa to Sandiganbayan on Jan. 29, 2011 following a spate of road accidents in the area.

As of Feb. 21, the MMDA has apprehended a total of 23,798 violators along the portion of the Commonwealth Avenue from Philcoa to the Sandiganbayan.

Tolentino said the MMDA has also been receiving reports that drag racers still use Commonwealth Avenue for their illegal racing, especially at night. To aid its traffic enforcers, Tolentino said the MMDA has bought additional speed guns to detect speeding motorists.

Tolentino added that plans are also being studied to install more closed-circuit television cameras along the highway. “There are portions on Commonwealth Avenue that are 18 lanes wide so motorists tend to speed up,” he said.

Commonwealth Avenue, dubbed the country’s “killer highway,” is the widest highway in the country. It has six to 18 lanes running in both directions.

Built in the late 1960s, Commonwealth Ave­nue starts from the Quezon Memorial Circle inside the Elliptical Road, passes through Philcoa, Tandang Sora, Balara, Batasan Hills and ends at Quirino Highway in Novaliches.