QC MULLS SPEED LIMITS FOR ALL BUSY STREETS

All streets in Quezon City should have their own speed limits for all passing vehicles, private or for public transport.

In a proposed resolution, third district Councilor Eufemio C. Lagumbay has urged Mayor Herbert Bautista to create a task force to undertake a study on the imposition of speed limits on all streets in Quezon City.

Lagumbay said that due to the continuing increase in the number of vehicles passing through Quezon City, vehicular traffic in national and main roads of the city always spills over to the side streets.

Using side streets and other vehicular arteries during rush hours and heavy traffic is now becoming a common practice to most drivers, thereby posing more danger to QC residents and transients, the councilor said.

He added that vehicles that pass through the side streets usually increase their   speed, most specially when there is no traffic problem or congestion when passing through.

He suggested that major roads like E. Rodriguez, Quezon Avenue, East and Timog Avenue, West/North Avenue, Quirino Highway,  Kalayaan, Aurora Boulevard, Katipunan, Visayas, Mindanao, Roosevelt, University Avenue and Congressional Avenues, should have a speed limit of 60 kph.

However, he proposed that  side streets used as alternative routes for traffic should have a lower speed limit for all vehicles.

The councilor said that the safety and protection of the constituents is the major concern of the local administration, thus it is imperative that all concerned agencies work together to ensure delivery of this basic services.

The task force will study the imposition of speed limits in all streets within the territorial jurisdiction of the city.

The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) recently imposed a speed limit of 60 kph for vehicles passing thru Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City to prevent vehicular accidents on this busy thoroughfare.

One of the victims, veteran journalist Lourdes ‘Chit’ Estella Simbulan died last May after a passenger bus crashed onto a taxi she was riding near the UP Technohub in Diliman, Quezon City.

The 12 kilometer avenue has 18 lanes at its widest, and is the widest road in the Philippines, beating the old record set by Edsa. -30- Divine/ Maureen Quinoñes, PAISO