The government will start penalizing public utility drivers who committed numerous traffic violations in Metro Manila.
After submitting to the Land Transportation Office the names of a total of 12,000 PUV drivers with various traffic offenses, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority now want them off the road in the metropolis.
MMDA general manager Jose Arturo Garcia Jr. said that erring motorists with alarming number of traffic violations should be banned from driving as they pose safety risks for their passengers.
“We want the riding public to be out of danger and prohibiting habitual traffic offenders is one step to avoid road accidents,” he said.
Garcia also said that the MMDA will wait for the guidelines from LTO for the apprehension of these PUV drivers.
Half of the 2,500 drivers answered the show cause orders issued to them by the LTO.
While waiting for the apprehension guidelines from the LTO, Garcia appealed to the operators to not allow those delinquent drivers to ply national roads in Metro Manila.
“Because we are just an enforcement agency, we have to be guided by the LTO on the apprehension of these motorists but we encourage PUV operators to exercise their authority and bar their errant drivers from holding the steering wheel,” Garcia said.
LTO Law Enforcement Deputy Director Roberto Valera said that revocation and suspension of license is in accordance with the law.
MMDA and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board officials will sit down with bus operators to submit the names of drivers who are under the alarm list of LTO.
Philippine National Police – Highway Patrol Group Traffic Enforcement Unit Chief Col. Emmanuel Tabuena, for his part, said that aside from suspension and revocation of license, drivers who are involved in road accidents may also face criminal charges like reckless driving, among others.
Garcia and LTFRB Technical Division Chief Joel Bolano are confident that license revocations and suspensions won’t adversely affect the transport system in the Metropolis.
“If there are 3,500 bus units in Metro Manila, there are more than 7,000 PUB drivers. If there are only 2,000 delinquent bus drivers, there will still be 5,000 left,” Bolano said.
Garcia also clarified that the government is not singling out PUV drivers as the agency is now going after private vehicles drivers and owners with more than three violations of same traffic offense.
Last november, the MMDA reported that a bus driver committed 533 violations since the time of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Among the violations committed by the unnamed PUB driver were obstruction, disregarding traffic sign, loading/unloading, yellow lane, and open door.