Facilitating compliance

On both lanes of Roxas Boulevard, signs are now prominently displayed, setting speed limits of 50 kilometers per hour for buses and trucks and 60 kph for light vehicles.

The new road signs began appearing along the northbound lane, from the MIA Road junction, only late last month, after motorists complained about being apprehended for “speeding” along a boulevard where not a single sign specifying the speed limit was posted.

What happens now to the P1,000 fine imposed by the traffic enforcers of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) before the road signs went up?

Ignorance of the law, the MMDA enforcers told those apprehended, excused no one. But what was the law? There are different speed limits for different types of roads nationwide, with confusing definitions of the types. Macapagal Boulevard, which runs parallel to Roxas, has long been dotted throughout on both lanes with large signs announcing the 60 kph speed limit for light vehicles and 50 kph for trucks and buses.

Why should motorists be penalized for faulty guesswork on unspecified speed limits? And yet how many motorists were forced to fork out P1,000 for “speeding” even before the signs went up along Roxas Boulevard?

Similar complaints were raised against the arbitrary implementation of the no-contact apprehension program in a few cities in Metro Manila. Road signs were confusing or non-existent, rules varied from one city to the next, and profit rather than road safety drove the NCAP, with the private firm QPax Traffic Systems Inc. making a killing from the lion’s share of 60 to 70 percent of fines.

Compliance with rules and laws must be made easy, the way we make an effort to promote ease of doing business. There are people who want to pay taxes properly, for example, but give up because of the difficulty of the payment process or, worse, corruption.

*      *      *

When the MMDA invoked the 2019 resolution passed by the mayors under the Metro Manila Council, which imposed the 50 / 60 kph limit, the Land Transportation Office added to the confusion by citing Republic Act 4136, circa June 1964. RA 4136, the Land Transportation and Traffic Code, specifically states that it cannot be superseded by a mere local ordinance or resolution. It imposes a speed limit of only 40 kph on roads like Roxas Boulevard, and 30 kph along city or municipal roads.

A Doberman Pinscher can run faster than 30 or 40 kph.

At least this speed limit is not being enforced along Roxas Boulevard. But even along certain expressways where traffic is always light, there are unrealistic speed limits imposed.

There are reckless and even murderous drivers and I can understand the need to enforce safety rules in driving. But speed limits must consider advances in automotive technology.

Decades ago when I was driving my first car, a manual Toyota Starlet, 50-60 kph was my normal speed even along highways; at 80 kph, the car began shaking.

With the new cars these days, you can barely feel even 100 kph, and with defensive driving, it will be safe. Speedometers on a mid-level modern car show a top speed of 200 kph.

Within Metro Manila, of course, there are precious few stretches of road where you can do 100 kph. During rush hour, my Chihuahua can run faster than my car.

*      *      *

If motor vehicles are not allowed to run faster than 80 kph in the country’s roads, they should stop selling vehicles that can run at higher speeds.

The Germans, who manufacture some of the world’s top performing cars, don’t like wasting the capabilities of their machines. They have highways or autobahns where there are no speed limits, where Audis, Porsches and BMWs zoom up to 300 kph.

Some reports say putting pedal to the metal is regarded as a sort of basic human right among Germans, who remember that in May 1939, Adolf Hitler reimposed speed limits of 60 kph on built-up roads and 90 kph on the autobahn. The 90 was cut to 80 kph in November 1939 to save gas for the Nazi führer’s World War II campaign.

Even among Germans who want to impose speed limits on the autobahns, recent surveys show that what they have in mind is 130 kph.

Considering the capacities for speed and safety of modern motor vehicles, higher limits are reasonable on throughways where pedestrian crossing is prohibited.

The 60 kph limit can also be reasonably increased to 80 along road stretches where traffic is almost always light.

For various activities, rules and laws must enable optimum performance, given the existing capabilities.

Also, the rules must be clear and easy to understand, especially since we have a problem with comprehension, according to international studies.

*      *      *

Confusing rules and the arbitrary application of new regulations as well as excessive fines led to the outcry against the NCAP.

Last week, for example, a family driver I know was negotiating that wide intersection of Gil Puyat Avenue and the South Luzon Expressway in Makati. The traffic light was still green as he entered the junction eastbound, but then it turned yellow and then quickly red, catching him inside the yellow junction box. So he stopped under the overpass, waiting for the red light to turn green.

A Makati enforcer approached and told him stopping inside the yellow junction box was a traffic violation. The driver explained that the red light caught him inside the wide box, apologized and asked if he should have proceeded even when the light was red.

The enforcer scolded him for being pilosopo and called a colleague to give the driver a further scolding. The driver apologized and offered to kneel down before them in contrition. At least they let the pilosopo off without a citation ticket.

Similar cases when NCAP was being enforced, with eye-watering fines of up to P5,000 per violation, led to complaints about the absence of countdown timers on stoplights especially at wide junctions like that one in Makati and another at the junction of Quirino Avenue and the northbound end of the South Luzon Expressway in Manila.

There are always traffic enforcers at that Quirino intersection, waiting to pounce on motorists caught by a yellow and then red light inside the wide junction box or even slightly straddling the borders. The stoplight countdown timer has been disabled.

Compliance would be facilitated by countdown timers, the way those speed limit signs are now forcing drivers to slow down along Roxas Boulevard.

Once the rules are clear, that’s the time fines and other penalties can be imposed. Doing it the other way around smacks of extortion.