By Alexandria Dennise San Juan
Almost 200 traffic violators, mostly overloaded trucks, were apprehended during the three-day anti-overloading operations of various agencies led by the Land Transportation Office (LTO) over the week.
(Mark Balmores | Manila Bulletin File Photo)
LTO together with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and the PNP-Highway Patrol Group (PNP-HPG) conducted the operations from May 21 to 23.
"We have conducted this inter-agency initiative to ensure compliance to the different land transportation laws, thus, prevent road traffic incidents," LTO Assistant Secretary Edgar Galvante said.
During the operations in 11 weighing stations in Metro Manila, a total of 191 violators of different transportation laws were nabbed out of the 325 trucks flagged down.
Of these, 108 trucks were issued citation tickets for violation of Anti-Overloading Law; 20 failed the Anti-Smoke Belching test, and 63 trucks were cited for various violations of the Land Transportation and Traffic Code.
According to Regional Director Atty. Clarence Guinto of LTO-National Capital Region, 11 composite teams were formed for the operations.
Each team, Guinto said, was composed of seven LTO personnel, 12 DPWH personnel and five elements of the PNP-HPG.
Guinto also reiterated the need to monitor violators as he cited several road crashes involving overloaded trucks including the incident last March wherein a wayward truck overloaded with cargo killed a pedestrian and injured several others along the Batasan-San Mateo road.
"The concerned agencies are resolute in its enforcement duty to ensure safety along Metro Manila roads, and reduce, if not eliminate road crash incidents," Guinto said.#