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InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5
MANILA -- The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Tuesday apprehended more than 600 motorcycle riders for violating the motorcycle lane scheme along (Efipanio De los Santos Avenue) Edsa on the first day of the dry-run period. MMDA Assistant General Manager for Operations Emerson Carlos said the violators were not penalized with the P500 fine and instead were made to undergo a 15-minute road safety seminar at designated areas such as Roxas Boulevard, Orense in Makati, and White Plains and Timog in Quezon City. The seminar focused on such issues as keeping headlights on, wearing protective gear like helmet and shoes, and bringing with them their driver's license. Heart-shaped stickers bearing the MMDA logo and the phrases “Certified Motorcycle Riders” and “Disiplinado Ako” will be given to the apprehended riders who complete the seminar. The first week of the implementation of the motorcycle lane scheme will serve as a dry run. “Wala munang multa na ipinataw sa kanila kasi nasa start pa lang tayo ng one-week na dry-run pero pakatapos nun saka na tayo magpapataw ng multa (No fine will be given to the violators since there is one-week dry-run but starting next week, motorcyclists who do not use the designated lanes will be fined),” Carlos said. The official said as of 11:50 a.m., 95 violators were held in Roxas Boulevard, 72 in Orense, 80 in White Plains, 31 in Timog, and 385 in General Simon for a total of 663. Not exclusive to motorcycles The agency has designated the fourth lane of EDSA as motorcycle lane though other light, private vehicles can still use it since it was not designated as an exclusive lane. Its implementation was based on Memorandum Circular 12-01 Series of 2012 approved by the Metro Manila Council (MMC) last month. The MMC, whose members are the 17 Metro mayors, is the policy-making body of the MMDA. For his part, MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino appealed to other drivers to respect the motorcycle lane to prevent accidents. “I am appealing to the private motorists using the motorcycle lanes to observe maximum tolerance for motorcycle riders to avoid any accident,” Tolentino said after personally spearheading the start of the motorcycle lane dry-run. According to Tolentino, the agency was prompted to enforce the scheme in several Metro Manila’s thoroughfares as the number of accidents involving motorcycles continue to rise, noting that there were around 8,000 such accidents last year. Other rules Motorcycle riders may deviate from the motorcycle lanes when making a turn or u-turn at authorized intersections and u-turn slots, in which case they are to gradually shift lanes not less than 200 meters away from the turning point, while making the appropriate signals. Similar schemes were enforced since last year along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City and Macapagal Boulevard in Paranaque City. The agency said that since the policy was implemented, the number of motorcycle accidents on Commonwealth, which once garnered the moniker “The Killer Highway” due to the high number of fatal accidents, was cut from 4-6 to less than one per day and that the figure is even lower on Macapagal from 4-5 to almost zero. MMDA data showed that every day, 6,559 motorcycles use EDSA’s northbound lane and 5,173 for the southbound lane, representing a 19% hike from 2010.
Likewise, data from the Land Transportation Office (LTO) showed that of the 1.7 million motor vehicles registered in Metro Manila last year, 608,839 were motorcycles and tricycles or about 34.4 percent of the total number of vehicles registered. An estimated 7,000 motorcycle units are sold nationwide every week.
