by Dr. Ramon Ricardo A. Roque, CESOI, Diplomate
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) recently announced that the enforcement of the rule on the use of motorcycle lanes along EDSA will once again be intensified.
The use of the motorcycle lane was provided for by Memorandum Circular 12-01, which was approved by the Metro Manila Council in 2012.
Let us be real. Aside from the first few months of the Circular’s implementation in 2012 and the once-in-a-while “intensified” implementation like what the MMDA did November last year, has there really been a serious implementation of this rule on the use of motorcycle lanes in EDSA and other major roads like the Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City and the C-5 Road?
If the rule has not been really implemented, what is there to intensify? Does the MMDA mean that it will finally implement the rule?
The MMDA cited the average of 55 daily accidents involving motorcycles along EDSA as the compelling reason for the “intensification” of the rule’s implementation. Other reasons cited include the heavier vehicular traffic caused by the motorcycle riders’ use of all lanes in EDSA instead of just the lane assigned to them.
These outcomes did not start happening just recently. The road accidents involving motorcycles have always been a daily occurrence in EDSA and in other major roads.
Why “intensify” the implementation of the motorcycle lane rule only in EDSA? How about in Commonwealth Avenue and in C-5 Road?
Motorcycle riders have been violating the rule right under the noses of the MMDA traffic enforcers.
