InterAksyon.com
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MANILA, Philippines - Makati City has decided to get tough on drunk driving and other traffic violations in the country’s financial center by raising the fines and penalties meted on violators of the Makati City Traffic Code of 2003 which was recently amended.
As part of the city government's thrust to improve road safety, Mayor Jejomar Erwin S. Binay signed City Ordinance No. 2011-010, recently enacted by the Makati City Council, to ensure compliance with traffic rules since most road accidents were attributed to violations of these rules.
Data from the Makati Command Control and Communications Center (C3) show a total of 781 road accidents were recorded in the city from January to July this year, while a total of 1,434 accidents were recorded in 2010.
“Traffic violations aggravate the traffic situation in Makati, which has an average of 800,000 vehicles passing through its roads daily. This new ordinance aims to curtail the disregard for traffic rules, which is largely to blame for vehicular accidents that occur in our city,” the mayor said.
In addition to the P2,500 fine and/or imprisonment prescribed by the 2003 Traffic Code for the first offense, the new ordinance provides for the impounding of the vehicle of the drunk drivers or those driving motor vehicles under the influence of drugs.
Furthermore, the city will recommend to the Land Transportation Office (LTO) the suspension or revocation of the drunk driver’s license.
In a related provision, business establishments will also be required to refrain from serving liquors or intoxicating beverages to customers driving a vehicle. They are also required to post reminders against drunk driving in conspicuous areas in their place of business.
Establishments that fail to comply with this provision will be slapped with a P2,500-fine and suspension of business permit for the first offense.
The ordinance also modifies the ban on tricycles on national roads in Makati to include all roads within the city's Central Business District, and increases the penalty for violators from P500 to P1,000, in addition to impounding the tricycle.
Under the new ordinance, violators of the rule prohibiting driving over a yellow box at an intersection will be fined P1,000 for the first offense, or double the previous fine of P500.
Disobedience to traffic control signals, on the other hand, will entail a fine of P2,500 and/or suspension of the driver’s license and, for a public utility vehicle, suspension of Certificate of Public Convenience.
The new ordinance mandates that an intersection marked with a yellow box must always remain unobstructed and open for passage.
The new ordinance is set to take effect after September 15, 2011, or 15 days after its publication in a newspaper of local circulation. All previous issuances, ordinances, rules and regulations or parts thereof which are inconsistent or in conflict with the provisions of the new ordinance are repealed and modified accordingly.
Meanwhile, provisions of the Makati Traffic Code not covered in the new amendments remain fully in effect.
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