By Rio N. Araja

THE Metro Manila Development Authority will identify and summon traffic violators on Edsa through surveillance cameras in a bid to end the high incidence of traffic violations there, an official said yesterday.

Edsa or Epifanio delos Santos Avenue, formerly Highway 54, is the main artery connecting seven cities in Metro Manila.

Angelito Vergel de Dios, the Authority?s executive director and right-hand man of Chairman Bayani Fernando, said his men would soon keep track of traffic violators on the artery 24 hours a day using 50 closed-circuit television cameras.

Another 500 cameras would be installed on the main avenues crossed by the highway, he said.

?Motorists disobeying traffic rules will be caught on camera and face penalties,? De Dios said.

He said the cameras were intended mainly for abusive bus drivers, but private motorists would also be summoned and fined when caught.

As planned, traffic officers will review camera footage to pin down traffic violators through their plate numbers.

?We will send pictures to bus operators and summonses demanding they pay their fine to the agency or through MetroBank,? De Dios said.

?In the case of private vehicles, we will trace the registered owners and send the photos and summonses to them.?

Ma. Corazon Manuzon, head of the Authority?s Data Control section, said obstruction was the most common violation along the 24-kilometer highway. The agency listed 48,603 violations there last year, she said.

?Second was disregard for traffic rules at 43,760, followed by reckless driving at 17,011, illegal parking at 16,277, violation of the yellow lane policy at 15,597, and violation of the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program at 8,588,? Manuzon said.

The other top violations were illegal loading or unloading of passengers (8,181), bus drivers not wearing uniforms (5,262), illegal parking or stalling on the road (3,293), and buses not closing their doors while moving (1,266).