DOTC: Many PUVs still violating speed limit at 'killer highway'

Despite the accident that killed journalist and professor Lourdes "Chit" Estella-Simbulan earlier this month, many public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers were still caught violating the speed limit along Commonwealth Avenue, the so-called "killer highway," in Quezon City. The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said its personnel caught several bus drivers speeding along the 12.4-kilometer highway before dawn Tuesday. "Dito kami sa kabilang side ng Commonwealth, then napansin namin maraming matutulin na takbo na bus ang papuntang Manila," DOTC consultant and former Land Transportation Office head Alberto Suansing said in an interview on dzBB radio. A separate report by radio dzBB's Allan Gatus said several buses were flagged down before 5:00 a.m. Tuesday for violating the 60-kilometer per hour (kph) speed limit along Commonwealth Avenue. Many of the buses were flagged down near the Technohub area, where a bus rammed a taxi carrying Simbulan and killed her on May 13. The incident prompted the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and the DOTC to work with the Philippine National Police in strictly enforcing traffic rules along Commonwealth Avenue. Suansing said they are now using a system where spotters who see speeding PUVs radio their colleagues, who in turn flag down the vehicles. - VVP, GMA News