Mandaue ‘No Contact’ traffic measure gets council nod
MOTORISTS within Mandaue City must observe traffic rules even if enforcers are not seen on the streets.
The Mandaue City Council approved the “No Contact Traffic Apprehension Ordinance” that seeks to penalize traffic violators within the city once captured by closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras that are mounted on the City’s traffic light system and other areas in Mandaue. It was passed on second and final readings during the City Council’s regular session last July 27.
The authors of the ordinance were Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna and Councilors Demetrio Cortes, Carmelino del Mar Jr. and Elstone Dabon.
Aside from the CCTV cameras, the ordinance stated that those who are caught violating traffic rules with the use of any gadgets that can capture videos and images will also be apprehended.
Traffic violators will be issued with a citation ticket and will have to pay the cor- responding fine.
Glenn Antigua, chief for operations of the Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue (Team), said if traffic violators fail to settle their penalties, charges may be filed against them before the fiscal’s office.
In a press release, most of the violations that are committed by motorists based on the footage are counter-flowing, beating the red light, obstruction, stopping on areas with No Stopping signs, illegal parking and obstruction on the pedestrian lanes.
According to the ordinance, the No Contact Apprehension Team will search for the owner of the vehicle that committed a traffic violation, in coordination with the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board.
A Team personnel or through a courier service will send a summon to the traffic violator.
Violators can pay the fines at the Of- fice of the City Treasurer.
For those who want to file a protest, they can submit it to the Team-Traffic Adjudication Division within seven days from receipt of the first notice.
If one fails to pay the fine, his/her vehicle license plate number will be included in the alarm list and will be reported to LTO “with a request that its registration will not be renewed until the penalties or fines are fully settled.”
With the new ordinance, Mandaue Mayor Luigi Quisumbing believed that this will lessen the traffic because enforcers do not have to flag down erring drivers as their plate number will be recorded in the Command Center.
Earlier, Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna said that the main target of the ordinance are the areas where there are no Team personnel.
He added that the apprehension of traffic violators that were captured on CCTV cameras will be based on the date, time and location. FMG