First Five Hours: 31 issued citation tickets for violation of Talisay City’s traffic policies

CT-TODA issued at least 31 citation tickets to violators of Talisay City’s “no helmet, no driving” and “left lane must turn left” policies this morning, July 9. /Photo from the City of Talisay Public Information Office Facebook page

CEBU CITY, Philippines – At least 31 motorcycle drivers were issued citation tickets for the violation of Talisay City’s “no helmet, no driving ” and “left lane must turn left” policies during the first five hours of its implementation today, July 9.

Jonathan Tumulak, chief of the City of Talisay-Traffic Operations and Development Authority (CT-TODA), said that they also impounded the motorcycles of at least six of the 31 motorcycle drivers after they found during their inspection that these did not have drivers licenses.

“Ang no helmet initial violation lang. When we checked, wala pud silay driver’s license or rehistro sa motor,” he told CDN Digital.

(Their failure to wear a crash helmet was only an initial violation. When he checked, we found out that they either lacked a driver’s license or motorcycle registration.)

Read More: CT-TODA to implement “no helmet, no driving policy” starting on Tuesday

Their motorcycles will also be impounded until such time that the concerned drivers are able to secure and present to CT-TODA the required driver’s license. They will also be required to pay the daily storage fee for their motorcycles, the amount of which Tumulak is yet to check.

Talisay City traffic enforcers manned traffic flow on city streets starting at 7 a.m. today. /Photo from City of Talisay Public Information Office Facebook page

CT-TODA enforcers went out on city streets starting at 7 a.m. today to start the implementation of the “no helmet, no driving” and “left lane must turn left” policies.

When enforcers took their break at noon time, Tumulak said they listed at least 31 motorcycle drivers who were issued with citation tickets.

Read More: Talisay to implement “no helmet, no driving” policy; puts on hold prohibition vs young backriders

Most of those issued citations tickets were flagged down by CT-TODA enforcers at the Talisay City side of the Cebu South Coastal Road and at the boundary of Talisay City and Minglanilla town.

Tumulak said that of the 31 drivers whom they flagged down, 26 were cited for the violation of the “no helmet, no driving” policy while five others violated the “left lane must turn left” policy.

Erring drivers will be asked to pay fines of P500 and P300 respectively.  Drivers with impounded motorcycle will be asked to pay an additional P500 fine for their failure to present their driver’s license during the CT-TODA inspection, Tumulak said.

Tumulak said that nine of the 31 drivers opted to immediately pay the corresponding fines for their violation while the 22 others will be given three days to settle their fines otherwise a court case will have to be filed against them.

“So far, wala man pud mi na encounter nga nasuko kay nakahibaw na man sila nga mag dakop na gyud mi today. Ni kumpyansa lang gyud sila,” he said.

(So far, none of the motorists that we flagged down expressed anger because they already knew that we will start to implement today the prohibitions.  They just took their chances.)

Tumulak said they expected to issue more citations tickets against erring motorcycle riders when traffic in the city starts to build up during the late afternoon rush hour.