DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 18 Jan) – The Davao City Transportation and Traffic Management Office (CTTMO) warned to confiscate the customized brakeless mini-bicycles assembled out of recycled bike parts that children use to go on group rides along major thoroughfares here.
Children and their mini bikes speeding along a major street in Davao City. The City Transportation and Traffic Management Office (CTTMO) warned to confiscate the bicycles due to the risks they pose to the children and to motorists. MindaNews photo
Retired Col. Dionisio Abude, CTTMO head, said during an interview over Davao City Disaster Radio (DCDR 87.5) that this type of bicycle can be too risky when used on the roads, which can cause accidents endangering the lives of children and other motorists.
He said that personnel of the CTTMO had monitored groups of children riding these customized mini-bicycles on some roads in the city, some of whom were seen speeding downhill along the Diversion Road near the Gap Farm Resort in Talomo District.
“You can see these children with small bicycles that have no brakes along the Diversion Road. They can be too dangerous because they can cause accidents, and can put the motorists in trouble,” Abude said.
He said the CTTMO was able to confiscate some of these bicycles along the Diversion Road upon a complaint submitted to the local government.
“We did not release the bicycles yet as we want their parents to come over and talk to them,” he said.
Abude said he told the parents that the lives of their children would be wasted just because they are allowing them to ride out on the streets using these bicycles.
He asked them to stop their children from going on dangerous rides to prevent accidents that can endanger their children’s and other people’s lives.
Abude said that these customized vehicles are not intended for use on public roads.
“It may be allowed in places where there are no vehicles passing by, that’s fine. But in our city, it cannot be allowed,” he said.
He added that his personnel have been directed to confiscate these dangerous bicycles if they encounter them on the streets.
Abude said he is asking for a legal opinion if it is possible not to release these bicycles to the owners.
“They will use it again anyway once released back to them. It’s too dangerous if we cannot monitor them,” he said.
Abude said the local government has yet to implement the “Amended Bicycle and Light Mobility Vehicle Ordinance of Davao City,” which was passed by the Sangguniang Panlungsod last July 19, 2021
The ordinance requires registration of bicycles by its owners for P20 at the barangays, he said.
“Our barangays will initiate the registration. They will be the ones to update us and give us the master list of how many bicycles have been registered,” he said.
The ordinance, Abude pointed out, also requires during registration that bike owners present helmet, headgear, or protective head covering and the use of reflectors, headlights, rear lights, or any warning device.
In July 2021, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) inaugurated the 54.74-kilometer Metro Davao Bike Lane Network in this city to provide a “safer road” for cyclists amid the pandemic.
The P145-million project, funded by Republic Act 11494 (Bayanihan to Recover as One Act of 2020), was completed last June 30.
The bicycle lane network is a convergence project of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and DOTr.
According to the data released by DPWH-Davao, the bicycle lane network was placed along Davao-Cotabato Road, ABS-CBN Quimpo Boulevard Diversion Road, Sandawa Road, Roxas Avenue, Quezon Avenue, Elpidio Qurinio Avenue, E. Jacinto Extension Street. Dr. A. Gahol St., Mabini Street, F. Torres Street, Loyola Street, Porras Street, Iñigo Street, and Nicasio Street. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
