MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police Highway Patrol Group issued citation tickets to 40 motorists for parking their vehicles on Metro Manila bike lanes, the chief of the police task force against COVID-19 said Wednesday.
In a statement, Police Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, commander of Joint Task Force COVID Shield, said violators received citation tickets for illegal parking and obstruction of bicycle lanes a day after the task force vowed to go after motorists who occupy bike lanes.
Eleazar also noted that most of the violators were private car owners.
On Tuesday, Eleazar ordered PNP-HPG to apprehend motorists who will park their vehicles on bike lanes.
This after cyclists complained that they were forced to use alternate routes because of motorists who occupy bike lanes in Metro Manila streets.
Eleazar, likewise, repeated his warning for motorists to respect cyclists, who use bicycles as their mode of transport during the coronavirus quarantine.
“This should serve as a lesson and a warning for the motorists to respect the spaces intended for bicycle riders. This operation will continue until we are able to institute discipline among the motorists that bicycle lanes are for bicycle riders and they have no business using them as parking or encroach in these lanes to overtake or to avoid traffic jams,” Eleazar said.