Mayors OK uniform traffic ticket, penalties

MANILA, Philippines - The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (mmda) and the mayors of Metro Manila approved yesterday a resolution allowing the use of a single ticket and uniform fines for traffic violations across Metro Manila.

According to the MMDA, Resolution 12-02 or “Adopting a Uniform Ticketing System” was approved following a study conducted by a technical working group. The MMDA said the new scheme will be effective in January next year.

Under the new unified ticketing and penalties system, penalties would now range from P500 for such violations as “disobedience to traffic signs” to P2,500 for operating a taxi with a defective or tampered meter.

A uniform ticketing system was earlier made effective for traffic violations across Metro Manila. However, the MMDA and the various local government units could not agree on a uniform schedule of fines for violators. The MMDA earlier argued that there is no need to have a uniform set of fines for violations under a single traffic violation ticketing system.

The single traffic violation tickets are called the Unified Ordinance Violation Receipts (UOVR) and bear the logos of the MMDA, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the 17 Metro Manila local government units (LGUs). They are designed to be tamper-proof and have several security features to prevent forgery.

With the use of the UOVR, a motorist who gets apprehended for a traffic violation and gets his driver’s license confiscated can use the single traffic violation ticket as a temporary license. Should the motorist be flagged down in another city, he will no longer be issued another traffic violation ticket for driving without a license upon presentation of his UOVR.

The MMDA said the UOVR is valid only for a single common offense. Should a motorist be issued an UOVR in one city for speeding, he could be issued another UOVR for committing another violation in another city, such as beating the red light.

Prior to the approval of a uniform set of fines, each LGU imposed its own set of fines for traffic violations, with Makati and Quezon City having stiff fines for traffic violations.

The MMDA said the UOVR is also recognized by LTO traffic enforcers.