The Land Transportation Office reminded motorists June 23 to always keep their motor vehicles in good condition amid the plan to intensify the crackdown on unsafe and unfit to be operated motor vehicles across the country.
LTO chief, Atty. Vigor Mendoza II, said the campaign will be undertaken alongside the intensified operation against unregistered motor vehicles and expired licenses as a significant number of these violations drastically increased based on the agency’s data.
“We are already finalizing our campaign plan and coordination with concerned agencies in implementing the intensified campaign against motor vehicles with expired registration and those unsafe and unfit motor vehicles on the roads,” Mendoza said in a statement.
He said he already issued a memorandum detailing the guidelines of the law enforcement on unregistered or with delinquent registrations, and motor vehicles which are unsafe and unfit to drive.
The memorandum was dated June 16 and Mendoza said they plan to start the aggressive operation by August. “This should serve as a notice to motor vehicles to comply with your obligation to keep the registration of your motor vehicles updated, otherwise, it would need to go through a more stringent process before renewal.”
Mendoza said the roadworthiness inspection done in accredited private vehicle motor inspection centers play a key role in informing owners of the safety of their respective vehicles.
Based on the memorandum, motor vehicles with expired registration will be impounded until such time that they are registered after undergoing roadworthiness inspection, with Joint Administrative Order 2014-01 and Republic Act 4136 as basis of the strict penalty that includes P10,000 in fines.
Unsafe and unfit motor vehicles could also be impounded based on the same laws until all the requirements are complied with.
“For enforcement purposes, this includes vehicles with clearly defective parts, such as broken windshields, exposed or hanging parts, bald tires, excessive emission, or major visible structural damage,” the memo states.
In asserting the need to be strict against unsafe motor vehicles, Mendoza cited several fatal road crashes recently due to defective parts and accessories of motor vehicles.
The Marcos administration is actively pushing to reduce road crashes in the country by at least 35% until 2028 under the Philippine Road Safety Action Plan.
Thirty-two persons die every day, on average, due to road crashes in the Philippines, UN data show.
“Road safety is a matter of life and death. On the part of the LTO, we are actively pursuing preventive measures, through interventions, to keep all road users safe,” Mendoza. “So we appeal to delinquent motor vehicles to do the right thing.” ||
