Quezon City to adopt contactless apprehension for traffic violators

MANILA, Philippines - The apprehension of erring motorists in Quezon City will soon be done through a contactless scheme using closed-circuit television cameras after the city government signed a memorandum of agreement with the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista said the camera-based system of identifying violators without need for human intervention will help authorities identify motorists who violate traffic laws in the city, the first to use such a system.

Bautista and LTO chief Alfonso Tan Jr. signed the agreement.

Cameras would be installed in strategic locations in Quezon City to monitor and identify erring motorists, Bautista said.

He said unruly motorists are the cause of most vehicular accidents that endanger the safety of other drivers and pedestrians.

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority’s Metro Manila accident reporting and analysis system in January to October 2014 showed that 19,703 out of the 65,145 road accidents nationwide were recorded in Metro Manila. Out of the 19,703 cases, 30 percent of the incidents were recorded in Quezon City. 

The same record also showed that 281 fatal road accidents happened in Metro Manila.

Aside from contactless apprehension, the Quezon City government and the LTO have also agreed to share information to achieve more efficient traffic management.

Under the agreement, the Quezon City government and the LTO would both have direct access to their motorist database.

Elmo San Diego, chief of the city government’s department of public order and safety, said erring motorists are able to get new licenses even without having to settle their fines first since the LTO does not have information on traffic violations in Quezon City.

He noted that local government units’ tickets are not compiled by the LTO, which means that even if motorists have numerous ordinance violation receipts, “the LTO does not know about it because there is no interconnectivity.”

San Diego explained that violators could easily get replacement licenses from the LTO by just submitting an affidavit of loss and disregarding traffic violation tickets.