New ordinance sets speed limits within Q.C. subdivisions

Mayor Herbert Bautista: Not a big burden. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista has signed an ordinance setting the maximum speed for motor vehicles within residential subdivisions in Quezon City at 20 kilometers per hour.

The new ordinance, titled “Subdivision Speed Limit Ordinance of Quezon City” which Bautista signed into law last Thursday, is to take effect on January 24. The measure was passed by the city council on December 16.

The ordinance penalizes violators with community service and fines ranging from P1,000 to P5,000 but provides stiffer penalties of a P5,000 fine and a week’s community service as well as the possible revocation of the driver’s license and criminal charges for motorists who damage property and cause injury or death due to reckless driving.

The measure cites the urgency of strictly enforcing maximum speed limits on roads inside the city’s subdivisions to avoid loss of life and damage to property due to reckless driving.

Under the measure, “No person shall drive at a speed exceeding the limit imposed by this ordinance, which is hereby set at 20 kilometers per hour, on crowded streets, approaching intersections at ‘blind corners,’ passing churches and school zones in all subdivisions in Quezon City.”

The speed limit, however, will not apply to emergency vehicles such as ambulances and fire trucks.

Violation of the ordinance would mean a day’s community service and a P1,000 fine for the erring driver while a second offense would entail two days of community service and a P2,000 fine. For subsequent offenses, a motorist will be slapped with a week’s community service and a P5,000 fine.

A violation resulting in damage to property worth more than P10,000 or death would merit a driver a week of community service and a P5,000 fine as well as an endorsement to the Land Transportation Office for the suspension or cancellation of his driver’s license. Likewise an endorsement for the filing of a criminal charge will also be submitted to the office of the city prosecutor.