Bike lanes on EDSA are often misused and overly abused. Just try passing through the major thoroughfare during rush hour and you’ll see motorists—mostly motorcycles—filtering through traffic via the bike lanes.
That might (hopefully) change soon, though, as the Special Action and Intelligence Committee for Transportation (SAICT)—formerly known as I-ACT—is now cracking down on motorists entering the EDSA bike lanes. You may recall that SAIC also heavily cracked down on motorists illegally entering the EDSA Busway towards the end of last year.
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In the Facebook video shared by Gadget Addict, authorities were situated near Greenhills—the exact same spot where the photo right above this was taken. SAICT officers were able to apprehend one rider after the other, and all of them were fined P1,000 for their violations.
The joint efforts by SAICT and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) last year to address the busway problem somehow worked, and the dwindling number of apprehensions month-on-month showed. Both the increased enforcement as well as the heftier fines surely played a role in that. Perhaps authorities should start considering doing the same here—we reckon a P5,000 fine for the first offense would be enough to make motorists think twice before hogging the bike lanes.
