Reminder: 60kph limit set in Macapagal Ave.; 136 violators already caught

From USNewsLasvegas.com:

By PNA and U.S. News Agency / Asian

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) reported on Friday more than 100 motorists were caught violating the 60-kilometer per hour (kph) speed limit it imposed along the entire stretch of the Diosdado Macapagal Avenue in Pasay City.

MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino said they apprehended 136 violators as of 10:30 a.m. Friday.

They face P2,000 fine, confiscation of driver’s license and half-day seminar on road discipline, Tolentino added.

The MMDA chairman said they will also use speed guns to monitor overspeeding vehicles along Diosdado Macapagal Avenue even at night, as part of the agency’s no-contact policy.

Under the no-contact policy, enforced to prevent bribery which rendered previous traffic measures futile, erring motorists caught on tape will receive a notice from the MMDA containing the following: the time, date and place where the alleged traffic violation is committed, the corresponding fine and a still photo taken from the video showing the driver in the act of violating traffic rules.

Violators are given a week to pay the fine. If they fail, they will receive a second notice. Should they again fail to settle the matter, their names will be placed on the alarm list of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and will not be able to renew their driver’s licenses or their vehicle registration papers.

Tolentino said a speed limit will minimize the high rate of vehicular accidents caused by illegal drag racing in the area.

The speed limit covers all types of vehicles, including motorcycles, similar to the scheme earlier implemented along the 12.5-kilometer long Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City, earlier dubbed as the country’s “killer highway.”

The Macapagal Avenue is the corridor that links southern Metro Manila with the province of Cavite and has a total of eight lanes and is 35 meters wide. It runs in a north-south direction from Manila and ends up in Paranaque City, at an intersection leading west to the Asian World City, built on reclaimed land from Manila Bay, and leading east to Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Earlier, the Metro Manila Council (MMC) approved a resolution to impose a maximum speed limit of 60 kph on the said thoroughfare following pleas from concerned citizens for government to curb the spate of vehicular and pedestrian accidents in the area.

Aside from Commonwealth and Macapagal Avenues, the MMDA said it is also eyeing the implementation of the scheme in other roadways in the metropolis such as at Roxas Boulevard and Osmena Highway.