(davaotoday.com file photo)
DAVAO CITY, Philippines — Traffic enforcers holding speeding guns are rarely seen in the streets here these days.
The reason?
The traffic group here is still awaiting for the delivery of the five speed guns they have requested last March.
Supt. Ernesto Castillo, chief of the Traffic Group here said the city has no functioning speed gun for almost a year already. A speed gun, he said costs around P500,000.
Castillo said the city previously had four speed guns that were used from 2010 until last year. Currently, the only thing traffic enforcers can do is to look out for drivers’ behavior.
“Ang ginagawa lang natin tinitignan natin yung sasakyan kung naga-wave, overtake, then swerving, yung three times, swerving, yan hinuhuli natin yan (What we do is we look out at vehicles that wave, overtake or swerve),” he said.
Once the new speed guns are available, Castillo said they will deploy five teams of traffic enforcers in the city.
Despite the lack of speed guns, Castillo said the number of vehicular accidents recorded by the traffic group has decreased by 17.11 percent from 15,742 last year to 13,049 this year.
Castillo said the decrease is probably due to their information drive on road safety.
Then city mayor, Rodrigo Duterte signed Executive Order No. 39 in 2013 which limits the speed of vehicles running in Davao City from 30 kilometers per hour (kph) to 60 kph due to the increase in traffic incidents on the highways and roads caused by reckless driving.
Under EO 39, driving from the city’s downtown area starting from J.P. Laurel, Buhangin Crossing-Milan, and Carlos P. Garcia Highway to Bolton/Generoso Bridge is limited to 30 kph.
Motorists from Ulas to Bolton/Generoso Bridge, Ma-a Road Diversion to McArthur Highway, and Panacan Crossing to J.P. Laurel Avenue are only allowed to drive up to 40 kph; while those driving along the highway in Sirawan, Lasang, Calinan, and C.P. Garcia are allowed only up to 60 kph. (davaotoday.com)
