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[av_heading heading=’MABILOG HIT FOR INACTION
Alim: Jed didn’t enforce speed limit ordinance ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY MERIANNE GRACE EREÑETA
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ILOILO City – Regulation Ordinance No. 2015-283 that limits the speed of motor vehicles was approved more than a year ago. But until now, Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog has yet to create an oversight committee that would monitor its implementation.
“Asta subong wala gid nila na-implement ang ordinance. Gin hingagaw ko ina pasar to prevent vehicular accidents,” said Councilor Alim, the ordinance’s author.
Overspeeding was blamed for Saturday night’s fatal crash of a sports car on Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr. Avenue in Barangay Dungon B, Jaro district.
“It is the executive who must take care of everything after an ordinance is passed by the city council,” said Alim.
Following the weekend vehicular accident, Mabilog stressed the need to enforce the ordinance. But Alim said it was Mabilog himself who failed to create the oversight committee.
Section 11 of the ordinance called for the creation of such committee to make recommendations to the city council and mayor relative to the implementation of motor speed limits.
The Sangguniang Panlungsod passed Regulation Ordinance No. 2015-283 on June 2, 2015.
“I am requesting the executive to please implement my ordinance as soon as possible to prevent the loss of more lives,” said Alim, an opposition member in the city council.
On Sunday, Mabilog said he would be meeting with the Transportation Management and Traffic Regulation Office (TMTRO) for the ordinance’s implementation.
But TMTRO officer-in-charge Robert Foerster told Panay News his men were ill-equipped to enforce it.
A year since Regulation Ordinance No. 2015-283 was approved, the TMTRO still does not have radar speed guns to detect overspeeding vehicles.
Foerster said traffic aides should not subjectively determine whether a vehicle is overspeeding or not.
A radar speed gun measures the speed of moving objects. It may be hand-held, vehicle-mounted or static. It gauges the speed of the objects at which it is pointed by detecting a change in frequency of the returned radar signal caused by the Doppler effect, whereby the frequency of the returned signal is increased in proportion to the object’s speed of approach if the object is approaching, and lowered if the object is receding.
“We can purchase it if we want to. But I cannot speak for the mayor,” said Foerster.
Prevention is better than cure, Alim stressed.
Saturday night’s vehicular accident killed 19-year-old Chester Lane Go of Arevalo district. She was a passenger of a Hyundai Genesis Coupe driven by 20-year-old John Trevor Galindez of Oton, Iloilo.
According to witnesses, the car was running some 200 km per hour.
Foerster urged drivers to observe defensive driving – a practice whereby vehicle drivers consciously reduce the dangers associated with driving. They do this by anticipating dangerous scenarios, which could range from bad weather to erring motorists.
“May ara defensive nga driver nga nagahalong, may ara man aggressive drivers, huros-huros,” said Foerster./PN
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