Drivers can check online if they were caught by Big Brother

KEEPING WATCH. Traffic law enforcement goes multiscreen at the MMDA headquarters in Makati City. ALEXIS CORPUZ

In a project dubbed “Na-HuliCam Ka Ba? (Were you caught on camera?),” the agency will make the information available online via a Google spreadsheet document starting May 3.

The uneditable document contains the updated list of no-contact apprehensions the agency has made since the policy was relaunched April 15.

MMDA Chair Emerson Carlos said the online data would include the plate number of the vehicle, the location, the date and time the traffic violation was committed, and the action taken by the agency.

Carlos added that the MMDA decided to come up with the database after many netizens asked for “an easy and efficient way to verify if they have been cited for a traffic violation.”

“The online database will facilitate the verification process by motorists on the traffic violations and assuage their fears that they could have been wrongly cited for traffic infractions,” the MMDA chair said.

In an earlier interview, MMDA Public Concerns head Goddess Hope Libiran explained that the database would be helpful especially for owners of second-hand cars.

“Through the online site, car owners will be able to check if the vehicle under their name has been tagged for a violation,” Libiran said, noting that confusion usually occur when the Land Transportation Office (LTO) records of the vehicle have not been updated. The MMDA sends notices to violators based on details from the LTO.

Libiran stressed that under the law people who bought second-hand cars have the responsibility to register the vehicle in their names.

Since the MMDA started its no-contact policy, which relies on around 650 closed-circuit television cameras to monitor and apprehend traffic violations along Metro streets, more than 4,000 violations have so far been recorded.

The cameras are placed in strategic positions across the capital, especially on Edsa, C5 Road, Roxas Boulevard, Commonwealth Avenue and Macapagal Avenue.

If a motorist is caught on camera for a violation, the MMDA will send a notice to the vehicle owner based on the license plate information and the address stated in the LTO registration. The tagged motorist will not be immediately asked to pay the fine and can still contest the citation under an appeals process that can reach the Office of the MMDA Chair.

As of Monday last week, the MMDA has sent out around 300 violation notices. With a report from John Cyril Yee