THE Metro Manila Development Authority, using its high-definition cameras, on Thursday caught 72 drivers violating the revived Anti-Distracted Driving law.
The MMDA public information office said personnel from the Metro Base, where the monitors of the Closed-Circuit Television cameras were installed, caught the 72 motorists from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the major thoroughfares in Metro Manila.
Victor Nuñez, MMDA legal and legislative staff officer, said the MMDA had 30 personnel, including deaf-mutes, manning the Metro Base.
The MMDA will summon the vehicles’ owners or operators to identify the drivers of the vehicles during the time of the traffic violation.
The notice will contain the date, time and location of the traffic violations, and the drivers will not be able to renew their vehicles’ registrations until the fines are settled.
There are 250 CCTV cameras installed in strategic areas in Metro Manila, and those are being used by the MMDA in its no-contact policy in apprehending violators of traffic rules and regulations.
The agency also enforces the no-contact policy in apprehending drivers caught speeding, beating the red light, violating the number-coding scheme, swerving, blocking intersections, disregarding traffic signs, making illegal turns, overtaking illegally, entering the yellow lane, defying the closed-door policy and the bus segregation scheme.
The rules say making or receiving calls, writing, sending or reading text-based communications, playing games, watching movies, performing calculations, reading e-books, composing messages, and surfing or browsing the internet are prohibited while driving.
“A motorist holding a mobile communications device or an electronic entertainment or computing device in a motor vehicle in motion, or temporarily stopped at a traffic light or any intersection, shall be prima facie presumed to be engaged in distracted driving,” the law says.
Motorists, however, are allowed to apply hands-free functions or applications in the use of such devices or gadgets so long as these do not interfere with their line of sight.