San Juan City limits student drivers

San Juan lawmaker wants student drivers off main roads

Thursday, January 10, 2008

San Juan City Councilor Dante Santiago is seeking to limit the use of main roads by driving schools in training student drivers to ease the flow of traffic in the city.

In his proposed ordinance, Santiago said driving schools will not be allowed to use the city’s main thoroughfares as their training ground for student drivers from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. every weekday.

“One of the reasons why vehicular traffic slows down during rush hours is because of the increasing number of driving schools and driving instructors who are using the city’s main thoroughfares as their training ground for student drivers, especially during rush hours,” Santiago said.

He specifically wants to have a smooth flow of traffic along Ortigas Avenue, Santolan Road, and Pinaglabanan, Wilson, N. Domingo and F. Blumentritt streets during rush hours.

“Mayor JV Ejercito and the city council is constantly devising new plans and finding ways to minimize, if not totally control, traffic congestion in San Juan city especially during the holiday season, it being a major conduit and passageway to and from various big cities in Metro Manila like Quezon City, Mandaluyong and Makati,” Santiago said.

Under Santiago’s proposed ordinance, violators will be fined P500 for first offense; P1,500 for second offense and P2,000 for third offense.

Santiagao said the San Juan police and the City’s Task Force Disiplina will be mandated to apprehend violators and issue them traffic violation receipts to the violators. – Jose Rodel Clapano