By CHITO CHAVEZ
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said yesterday that traffic on majority of the roads leading to colleges, universities and private and public schools in Metro Manila was relatively light on the first day of school year.
MMDA Traffic Operations Center (TOC) Executive Director Angelito Vergel de Dios attributed the situation to the re-implementation of the Unified Vehicle Volume Reduction Program (UVVRP) which was temporarily scrapped during the summer break.
"Traffic was surprisingly smooth even along critical and known traffic-prone areas probably due to the re-imposition of the number-coding scheme," De Dios added.
But he noted that the agency’s traffic schemes would be put to the test when the main bulk of pupils and students troops to the various Metro Manila schools and universities on June 13.
De Dios was beaming with confidence that the MMDA is well-prepared to perform its traffic management duties even with the remaining 70 percent of the students flocking back to school.
Sources at the Department of Education (DepEd) said that roughly 30 percent of the schools mostly from the private institutions have started their classes one week earlier.
De Dios warned motorists to strictly traffic regulations and to carefully read the traffic and informative signs to avoid apprehensions and other traffic related inconveniences.
He also asked the pedestrians to make full use of the sidewalks to prevent road accidents and to allow the smoother flow of the increased number of vehicular traffic on national highways and side streets.
The MMDA has continuously removed makeshift shanties, illegal structures and other obstructions on sidewalks and road right-of-way a month before the opening of classes.
Motorists expressed fear that abusive towing service personnel might take advantage of the situation and indiscriminately tow illegally parked vehicles even when the driver is behind the wheel.
The MMDA guidelines state that tow truck firms are not allowed to tow attended illegally parked vehicles but traffic enforcers may issue a traffic violation receipt (TVR) to the driver.
De Dios said that the MMDA and the Office of the Ombudsman are in the midst of forming a unified system where the motorists can pay their towing service fees following the MMDA guidelines.
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