MMDA rejects calls to raise speed limit along Commonwealth Ave.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority on Thursday rejected suggestions to raise the speed limit along the 12.4-km Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City. MMDA chairman Francis Tolentino said the 60-kph limit, which they started implementing this week, will mainly benefit senior citizens using the highway. "Marami tayong senior citizens na nagmamaneho sa Commonwealth Avenue, naghahatid ang apo sa iskwelahan, maraming iskwelahan sa Commonwealth Avenue. Tamang tama ang 60 kph sa kanilang reflexes," Tolentino said in an interview on dwIZ radio. (Many senior citizens drive along Commonwealth Avenue, bringing their grandchildren to school. There are many schools along that highway. The 60-kph speed limit is just right for their driving reflexes.) He also said this speed limit is one of the ways they can reduce accidents and fatalities along the avenue, which some had dubbed a "killer highway." On Tuesday, the MMDA started implementing a 60-kph speed limit as well as a lane assignment system. Under the lane assignment system, the two rightmost lanes are for buses, while the two next lanes are for motorcycles and jeeps. The other lanes are for private vehicles. Tolentino said that for the first two days the MMDA's new traffic rules along Commonwealth Avenue went into effect, there had been no accident reported. "Sa second araw wala pang aksidente at wala pang namamatay sa Commonwealth Avenue (For the first two days, there had been no accident along Commonwealth Avenue)," he said. — RSJ, GMANews.TV