MMDA urged to act on ‘killer highway’

Quezon City councilors are urging the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to address the unabated road accidents along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City.

The highway, already infamous for high accident rates, has been the subject of increased monitoring after a taxi-bus collision killed veteran journalist and UP professor Chit Estella on May 13.

In a draft resolution, Councilors Roderick M. Paulate and Raquel S. Malangen urged MMDA Chair Francis Tolentino to install closed-circuit television cameras, additional street lamps and reflectorized traffic signs along Commonwealth.

“Most of said accidents happen during night time due to the inadequacy of street lamps and reflectorized traffic signs,” such that drivers fail “to notice the accident-prone areas in Commonwealth Avenue,” they pointed out.

Installing “precautionary measures” could lead to catching traffic violators and minimizing road accidents along the highway, they said.

Another  resolution authored by Councilor Precious Hipolito Castelo urged the MMDA “to strictly implement the yellow lane policy” or to allot “the two outermost lanes … for buses plying Commonwealth Avenue for road safety.” Jaymee T. Gamil