Friday, October 5, 2012

Traffic Violation in Pasig City



A week ago, I was apprehended by the blue boys of Pasig city for making an illegal U-Turn along Ortigas Avenue. It was my fault. The No U-Turn sign was there and I purposely disregarded it due to stubbornness, and the need to find a sign of relief for you know No. 2 and heavy traffic condition on the said area. The Traffic Officer was courteous enough  and it never actually entered my mind to argue with him. He even volunteered to lower my violation from the illegal U-Turn violation which has a fine of Php 1,000.00 to just D.T.S.which has a much lesser fine of Php 500.00 as I pleaded that I was not familiar with the area and that I surely will not do it again. I was never the type who'd bribe a traffic officer just to get out of the jam so I took it head on.

The violation ticket was valid for 5 working days. To me it was more than enough time to go about my business there and claim my license. Failure to do so within that period will result to an additional 5% surcharge on top of the violation fee plus I won't be able to drive anymore. So I used the power of the internet and did a lot of research but there were very few articles that was helpful thus resulting in me writing about my whole experience.



First off, According to some articles I read online. They also experienced their traffic violation being lowered from something to just D.T.S. which is a lot less grave and has a much lesser fine. I mean, A) is this really a part of their S.O.P. or B) are they just really that courteous and polite or C) is this their way of bargaining with you.

Secondly, just an F.Y.I. to all of you guys who are wondering why they confiscated my license and asking Aren't they suppose to just issue you a ticket and not take your license at all? According to him (Traffic Officer) only the M.M.D.A. does that. But if you were apprehended by the local traffic constables they are still doing that. Confiscating Licenses that is. 

Third, Violation fees between the M.M.D.A. and the Local Traffic Bureaus aren't always the same. The M.M.D.A. may fine you only Php 150.00 for D.T.S but I got fined Php 500.00 by the Blue Boys of Pasig with the same offense. So don't be surprised guys. The former's fees are also available online unlike the latter. 

Claiming my License wasn't a walk in the park either. Primarily because I was not familiar with the area. I have been to the Pasig Mega Market once and I only relied on Google and the very vague memory of my first visit to the area. Luckily when I saw a familiar landmark it didn't take me a lifetime to find the converted fire station in the corner of  F. Manalo and V.Baltazar St.



It was a rainy afternoon and I didn't expect the line to be that long. When I got there I was right. There was no line but there were a lot of people just like me, hoping to be done with our business there. People at the cashier are wanting to maintain order but due to the spatial restrictions  of the second floor corridor there was very little they could do. I even over heard on claimant saying "Sa laki ng perang pumapasok dito araw araw, dapat hindi ganito dito." To me he was right.

After everything has been said and done, I drove out of there thinking maybe bribing the Traffic Officer was not a bad idea after all. It could have saved me a lot of time and money and the hassle of driving all the way to Pasig just to experience all these. I don't know if this is their way for us to learn a valuable lesson which I'm not sure if it's to be very careful and never to break any traffic law or it's an implicit way of saying just bribe us the next time you get caught so you won't have to go through all these trouble again.

To me I learned my lesson the hard way. Maybe the next time I had to break any traffic law, I should make sure that the enforcers around are from the M.M.D.A. It's a lot cheaper and a lot less inconvenient. hehehe (JOKE)