Motorcycle lane in Cebu City pushed

CEBU, Philippines - To avoid more accidents involving motorcycles, the Cebu City Transportation Office is asking the City Council to pass an ordinance allocating the outermost lanes of all roads in the city for motorcycles.

Executive Director Rey Gealon said the CCTO Board approved the resolution en masse on September 3.

The resolution also asks Councilor Gerardo Carillo to sponsor the resolution. Carillo is a member of the CCTO Board.

“The gist of the resolution is that we want to contain these motorcycles in one lane. Surely, this will minimize road accidents especially involving motorcycles as they can no longer recklessly zigzag from one lane to ano-ther, or even counter flow traffic.

We are confident that the City Council shares our position on this and push the ordinance,” Gealon said.

“On a daily basis, daghan gyud ta og ma-record nga aksidente, naay accidents involving pedestrian and motorcycle, naay motorcycle and cars, naay motorcycle versus motorcycle. Basta, everyday naa gyud na,” he added.

CCTO is collating its data as of the moment.

Gealon said that it is up to the City Council to determine the violations and penalties of the violators. He said he does not foresee any opposition from the Council on the proposal.

Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella commended CCTO for the initiative but stressed the need for a thorough study and analysis considering that not all roads in the city are spacious.

“The roads in the city are not so wide. Let’s have a thorough study and analysis on this. Atong tan-awon basig maka-worsen nuon sa traffic sa siyudad,” he said.

To this, Gealon said, “Yes, we are considering the narrow roads in the city. But still, if this will be implemented, motorcycle drivers should occupy the outermost lane of that narrow road in compliance with this ordinance, should this be passed,” he said.

“For the one-lane road sad sa city, they have to stick to that road. For as long as they will not counter flow, okay ra and they are not allowed to overtake gyud,” he added.

If he were to decide, CCTO operations chief Jonathan Tumulak said the measure would work best in wide roads.

“Duna lang gyoy selected roads kay naa may ubang roads nga dili applicable gud. But, mo-support gyud ming tanan ani para mogamay ang aksidente involving sa motorcycles,” he said. — /JMO (FREEMAN)