If you remember what happened to the Zamboanga illegal street racers, the authorities won't hesitate to use social media to rid the streets of underserving drivers.
the Land Transportation Office (LTO) has already perpetually revoked the license of the Zamboanga street racers. Now they're after another drive that has been disregarding the rules of the road.
Just recently, in what appears to be somewhere in Pasig City, active transport commuter, Anthony Paul Labiste, caught a jeepney inside the already protected bicycle lane. Footage from his camera shows the jeepney used the lane protected by bumps as his own terminal and lane to avoid traffic. However, the jeepney ended up obstructing the bicycle lane. This didn’t sit well with the LTO.
“We will act on this,” said LTO’s executive director, Romeo Vera Cruz to MotoPinas.com. Based on the video, the jeepney was seen using the protected bicycle lane. Its right wheels are already on the gutter because the space was not designed for four-wheeled vehicles. It blocked the path of cyclists and a sudden stop to load passengers force the cyclists behind to wait.
Penalty
There’s a reason why bicycle lanes have markers or even bollards to separate it from the other lanes on the road – to make it a safe lane for cyclists and other active transport users.
Surprisingly, when we did a quick search by using the LTO’s 2600 text hotline to see if the jeepney has any pending cases with the LTO, it yielded none, and its registration is updated.
However, if the LTO pursues the case against its driver, the driver could be meted with a “disregarding traffic/road signs” and a PHP 1,000 fine.
However, the violation could also be upgraded to “reckless driving”, according to the authorities, since the driver is driving “without reasonable caution considering the width, traffic, grades, crossing, curvatures, visibility and other conditions of the highway and the conditions of the atmosphere and weather, or so to endanger the property of the safety or rights of any person or so as to cause excessive or unreasonable damage to the highway.” This means an additional PHP 2,000 fine + seminar and demerits on the driver’s license.
