IRR for law requiring speed limit devices for PUVs ok’d

MMDA traffic constables can forget about going on leave as it’s all hands on deck in the four days leading to Christmas Day. —RAFFY LERMA

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) will soon release the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for three laws expected to improve road safety and prevent deaths due to accidents.

During the recently concluded Global Road Safety Week hosted by civic group Imagine Law, Transportation Assistant Secretary for Road Transport Mark de Leon said that the DOTr had just completed crafting the IRR for Republic Act (RA) No. 10916 or the Road Speed Limiter Act of 2016.

Under the law, public utility vehicles are required to install devices designed to limit a vehicle’s maximum speed.

De Leon added that the DOTr, Department of the Interior and Local Government and Department of Public Works and Highways would also come out with a joint memorandum circular on speed limit setting and enforcement. It would list the mechanisms allowing local governments to lower speed limits on national roads with a high pedestrian mix such as school zones and markets.

Currently, cars, trucks, buses and motorcycles are allowed to run at only 20 kilometers per hour (kph) on crowded streets, when approaching intersections at blind corners or in school zones. On open country roads, with no blind corners close to houses, cars and motorcycles can run up to 80 kph while trucks and buses are allowed up to 50 kph.

De Leon said that aside from addressing the speed of vehicles, the DOTr also signed recently the IRR for RA 10666 or the Safety of Children Aboard Motorcycles Act, and RA 10913, or the Anti-Distracted Driving Act. -Jovic Yee