Traffic office tows 1,000 vehicles

TOWED vehicles in the city rose to 1,172 from January to December 2018 from 186 in the same period last year.

City Transport and Traffic Management Office (CTTMO) chair Dionisio Abude said the towed vehicles are composed of motorcycles, tricycles and “payong-payong” or a motorcycle with a sidecar attached to it.

The vehicles were impounded by the CTTMO for illegal parking and no franchise for payong-payong vehicles.

“Mao ni atong mga na-impound diri. Nagahatag pa gyud ni sila ug individual penalty based sa ilang mga violations (These impounded vehicles were also penalized for individual violations),” he said, adding that payong-payong vehicles are mainly towed because they are not supposed to fetch passengers along the highways within the city.

He further said that the violation committed by payong-payong vehicles is ‘soliciting passengers without franchise’ since this kind of vehicle cannot be registered to the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

Another violation for payong-payong vehicles is illegal attachment since its side car was not registered.

“Kung naa tay makita na payong-payong, bisan pag sa sulod sa barangay nga highway, ato gyud na sila dakpon (If we see them roaming the highways, even if it’s inside the barangays, we will have to impound it),” Abude said.

Abude also said some towed payong-payong vehicles are not claimed by owners since the penalty is way higher than the cost of the said vehicles.

The number of impounded vehicles has caused a problem for the CTTO however as the impounding area can hardly accommodate the vehicles.

The towed vehicles will be in the impounding area for six months before it will be disposed of through the LTO.

Chapter 9, Section 71, Article J of the Code of Ordinances of Davao City prohibits tricycles from operating on national highways in the city.

Arrested individuals may be charged for violation of Republic Act 4136 otherwise known as Land Transportation and Traffic Code.