Cavite number coding scheme on; 200 drivers apprehended
TRECE MARTIRES CITY, Cavite – The implementation of Cavite’s vehicle number coding scheme in the first two days resulted in the apprehension of some 200 in the upland and lowland districts.
Cavite is the first province to implement the vehicle number coding scheme outside of Metro Manila.
The scheme was drawn up and implemented to help ease the traffic flow in the province’s major thoroughfares.
The vehicle number coding scheme in the province officially started on Monday, February 5.
Cavite Governor Jesus Crispin C. Remulla and Jo-Ann Nazareno Loyola, head of the Provincial Information and Communication Affairs Department (PICAD), said that the a traffic congestion was eased while vehicle volume was reduced during as a result of the scheme’s implementation.
The public was informed about the full implementation of the coding scheme as early as December 2017.
Coding areas
Covered by the scheme that focuses on private cars, trucks and vans are Aguinaldo Highway (the stretch from Bacoor to Dasmariñas-Silang boundary), Governors Drive (Carmona to Trece Martires CityTanza boundary), Molino-Salawag-Paliparan Road (from Zapote, Bacoor, to Paliparan, Dasmarinas) and Molino Boulevard (from Aguinaldo Highway to Molino-Salawag-Paliparan Road).
The scheme bans vehicles, based on the last digit of license plates or conduction stickers, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. from Monday to Friday.
Vehicles with license plate numbers or conduction stickers ending in 1 and 2 are covered by the coding scheme on Monday, 3 and 4 on Tuesday, 5 and 6 on Wednesday, 7 and 8 on Thursday and 9 and 0 on Friday.
Lead agencies
The Office of the Governor-Road Safety Division (OPG-RSD) was tasked as the scheme’s lead implementing body.
The group is being supported by the Cavite Office Public Safety (COPS) and the City and Municipal Traffic Management Offices.
Gov. Remulla said that the coding scheme’s implementation on Monday and Tuesday was generally peaceful as the coding plan was well addressed by the traffic enforcers and the commuters. Officials have called on the motorists to cooperate and help ease traffic in Cavite.
Exemptions, IRR
The implementing rules and regulations (IRR) are contained in Provincial Ordinance 164 (as amended by Provincial Ordinance 173) or The Number Coding Scheme-Ordinance of the Province of Cavite.
Exempted from the coding scheme are public utility vehicles (buses and jeepneys), motorcycles, ambulances, firetrucks, marked police and military vehicles, government vehicles with red plates, vehicles in emergency cases, registered school buses and company shuttle buses and vehicles carrying perishable goods to markets such as fresh vegetables, meat, sea foods and frozen products, and cooked foods for catering, baked products and medicines/vaccines which have only 24-hour duration.
With the IRR in place, apprehended drivers motorists will be issued traffic citation tickets (TCT), their driver’s license confiscated and fined R300.
The Cavite provincial government was supposed to implement the coding scheme in February 2017, until revisions on the IRR were done.