New Quezon City ordinance sets speed limits

Mayor Herbert Bautista

After posting the highest number of vehicular accidents in Metro Manila between 2010 and 2016, Quezon City government has passed an ordinance to make its streets safer.

Ordinance No. SP-2636 or the Road Safety Code of Quezon City, sets different speed limits depending on the type of road.

It also calls for the setup of random checkpoints as a deterrent to drunk driving, the creation of more pedestrian and bicycle lanes, and improvements in the local road network.

The ordinance, which was signed by Mayor Herbert Bautista on Nov. 23, was given a P50-million budget for its first year of implementation.

The money will be used to buy laser speed guns and cameras, breath analyzers, drug testing kits and body cameras.

It will also fund the training of law enforcement officers, the production of information materials, and the installation of additional road signs.

According to the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, Quezon City posted the highest number of road accidents in the metropolis from 2010 to 2016.

The ordinance noted that in 2016 alone, the city accounted for 33,717 road crashes that resulted in 116 deaths, or around 27 percent of the total number of fatal accidents in Metro Manila.

As a safety measure, the speed limit for all types of vehicles using city roads, except for selected thoroughfares, is set at 30 kilometers per hour. For barangay roads, the limit is 20 kph.

With the exception of Commonwealth Avenue where vehicles can run at 60 kph, cars and motorcycles are limited to 50 kph on Santolan Road, Aurora Boulevard, Kamuning Road, Batasan Road, Regalado and Quirino Highways, E. Rodriguez Sr. Avenue, Quezon Avenue, West Avenue and Mindanao Avenue.

Trucks, buses and tricycles can run only up to 30 kph on all city roads, except for Commonwealth Avenue where the speed limit for such vehicles is set at 50 kph.

The ordinance also makes it illegal for motorcycle riders to have a back rider “unless the motorcycle is designed to carry more than one person.”

However, it is friendly to bikers and provides for the creation of at least 10 kilometers of bike lanes each year in the next five years.

The ordinance also orders a crackdown on drunk and drugged drivers through random breath and drug tests.

Random “sobriety checkpoints” near commercial establishments will also be set up by enforcers equipped with body cameras to record their actions.