SC (temporarily) stops NCAP

[dr. d]

parang some of the countdown timers along taft ave manila, aren't functioning today...
or am i just imagining things? sometimes i can't seem to trust my senses anymore...

[baludoy]

^ Even the traffic lights along the buendia ave- taft ave intersection have been replaced with the blinking ones. Same case with the coastal road /Roxas Blvd - NAIA road intersection.

[dr. d]

^ Even the traffic lights along the buendia ave- taft ave intersection have been replaced with the blinking ones. Same case with the coastal road /Roxas Blvd - airport road intersection.

so i am wondering, why?
common sense says that knowing the entire 30 or 60 seconds is superior to the blinking last five seconds, planning-to-cross-or-not-to-cross-wise...
but my question is, "why are our authorities agreeing to this!"

[falken]

so i am wondering, why?
common sense says that knowing the entire 30 or 60 seconds is superior to the blinking last five seconds, planning-to-cross-or-not-to-cross-wise...
but my question is, "why are our authorities agreeing to this!"

Pwede nayan mentality.

[oj88]

so i am wondering, why?
common sense says that knowing the entire 30 or 60 seconds is superior to the blinking last five seconds, planning-to-cross-or-not-to-cross-wise...
but my question is, "why are our authorities agreeing to this!"

I can argue that 5 seconds is an eternity. That's enough time to decide whether to proceed or not. If you're about to cross, then proceed. But if you're a several seconds behind, you can start slowing down.

I prefer the timer, yes. But replacing it with the blinking-green isn't a show-stopper, considering we had neither back in the day and there were no ambiguity then (aside from when the lights were broken and such).

[Dr.Kamiya]

I think the problem with the timers is it's harder to make adjustments. Some seem to have the countdown timers programmed separately from the actual light operations, which is why we have videos of timered lights counting down then suddenly turning yellow then red even when there was still a good number of seconds left on green... On the opposing lane naman red would have been counting down then suddenly turns green (and drivers are still texting or adjusting their radios).

[oj88]

I think the problem with the timers is it's harder to make adjustments. Some seem to have the countdown timers programmed separately from the actual light operations, which is why we have videos of timered lights counting down then suddenly turning yellow then red even when there was still a good number of seconds left on green... On the opposing lane naman red would have been counting down then suddenly turns green (and drivers are still texting or adjusting their radios).

Couldn't have explained it better myself. This was the point I was making. They (either manually or through automation) can make fine adjustments on the timing in real time. When you have the timer showing, the signal is sort of committed to completing the countdown or you'll have chaos (which is evident on faulty timer/signaling systems). With the blink system, they can extend or cut down the duration of the light with great resolution and either way it goes, you're still given ~5 seconds notice to do what you need to do.

I know I'm probably giving them more credit but, I'd like to think that in the grand scheme of things, it's not likely that they did it just on a whim.

What I'd like is a better way for the government to disseminate these types of changes to the motoring public. I mean, sure it's reasonably intuitive but, I'm sure many motorists were confused the first time they saw it.

[baludoy]

Sabi sa news the new blinking traffic lights installed by the mmda are "sensor based" na daw. Those stop lights automatically determine the volume of vehicles on the intersections they're assigned to and then decides for itself w/c road/s need/s to be prioritized and unloaded first.

Only thoroughfares under the jurisdiction of the mmda are equipped w/ those kind of traffic lights. The rest fall under the authority of the lgu, w/c means no changes will be made , I reckon.

[Verbl Kint]

I hope the PH government will one day remove all the traffic management responsibilities in the NCR AWAY from the LGU's -- have a consistent implementation of traffic rules, regulations, road markings, road design, and signages for the Greater Manila Area.

I often wonder how things could be better if the MMDA is privatized and be more reliant on technological and engineering solutions to the usual Filipino driver's "diskarte".

[Motortrend]

I hope the PH government will one day remove all the traffic management responsibilities in the NCR AWAY from the LGU's -- have a consistent implementation of traffic rules, regulations, road markings, road design, and signages for the Greater Manila Area.

I often wonder how things could be better if the MMDA is privatized and be more reliant on technological and engineering solutions to the usual Filipino driver's "diskarte".

Agree on the consistent implementation of traffic rules and regulations.

By privatizing MMDA, did you mean a similar situation where you have private security agencies enforcing traffic rules and regulations within a subdivision?

[Verbl Kint]

By privatizing MMDA, did you mean a similar situation where you have private security agencies enforcing traffic rules and regulations within a subdivision?

I would lean more towards technological solutions instead of deputized traffic wardens, whenever possible. For instance, speed traps with radar guns showing people their speed -- violators will get fined, gross violations gets the license suspended and the car impounded (for instance, sending it at double the speed limit), habitual violators get their licenses revoked.

Data-driven analytics on traffic for Metro Manila as a whole -- with tactical analyses on how traffic lights should be synched. Congestion charges at major thoroughfares, aggressive anti-smoke belching regulations to get less of these vehicles off the road, no tolerance policies on PUV's violating traffic rules, remove all vehicles that cannot do 45 kph from EDSA, and other stuff that I can't think of right now.

[Motortrend]

I would lean more towards technological solutions instead of deputized traffic wardens, whenever possible. For instance, speed traps with radar guns showing people their speed -- violators will get fined, gross violations gets the license suspended and the car impounded (for instance, sending it at double the speed limit), habitual violators get their licenses revoked.

Data-driven analytics on traffic for Metro Manila as a whole -- with tactical analyses on how traffic lights should be synched. Congestion charges at major thoroughfares, aggressive anti-smoke belching regulations to get less of these vehicles off the road, no tolerance policies on PUV's violating traffic rules, remove all vehicles that cannot do 45 kph from EDSA, and other stuff that I can't think of right now.

In that case, I think NCAP is something that they have privatized.

[oj88]

A work colleague received an NCAP 'love letter' yesterday.

Without going much into the details, his vehicle was captured on EDSA around Guadalupe between 7 and 8PM supposedly violating the UVVRP. He's planning to contest it because Guadalupe is still in Makati and in Makati, the UVVRP ended at 7PM. But that's not the point of my post.

What's bothering is that the incident happened almost 2 months ago and he only got the notice yesterday. Most dashcams are only capable of storing several days to a few weeks, unless it's capable of larger-capacity SD cards and you've actually upgraded it. So, if your only means of defense is the footage from your dashcam, it would be prudent to max out the memory capacity so it can retain at least 2-3 months of footage.

Of course, the duration of your driving will also dictate how many days worth of footage it can retain. For example, if the card can record a max of 100 hours of video and you drive 3 hours total a day, the card should be able to keep the last 30 and some-odd days. But if you drive 4 hours in a day, that same card will only hold about 25 days before it's rewritten over, and so on.

[dr. d]

A work colleague received an NCAP 'love letter' yesterday.

Without going much into the details, his vehicle was captured on EDSA around Guadalupe between 7 and 8PM supposedly violating the UVVRP. He's planning to contest it because Guadalupe is still in Makati and in Makati, the UVVRP ended at 7PM. But that's not the point of my post.

What's bothering is that the incident happened almost 2 months ago and he only got the notice yesterday. Most dashcams are only capable of storing several days to a few weeks, unless it's capable of larger-capacity SD cards and you've actually upgraded it. So, if your only means of defense is the footage from your dashcam, it would be prudent to max out the memory capacity so it can retain at least 2-3 months of footage.

Of course, the duration of your driving will also dictate how many days worth of footage it can retain. For example, if the card can record a max of 100 hours of video and you drive 3 hours total a day, the card should be able to keep the last 30 and some-odd days. But if you drive 4 hours in a day, that same card will only hold about 25 days before it's rewritten over, and so on.

as an aside,
the verisame ncap "evidence" should be available to the accused, for him to challenge, is it not?
video, picture, time stamps and all that?

[oj88]

as an aside,
the verisame ncap "evidence" should be available to the accused, for him to challenge, is it not?
video, picture, time stamps and all that?

Yes, there are two QR codes on the notice to contest and to view the video. I think it takes you to Google Forms to make the request.

But for non-UVVRP incidents, the NCAP video might not show the complete picture, where a dashcam might provide the whole context.

[rayanrich]

Haha, shadow is 100% right to call that out—how on earth did a thread about traffic camera violations suddenly morph into breaking news about a radio commentator getting ambushed in Las Piñas? Talk about a massive derailment!

But going back to the actual topic: the Supreme Court slapping a TRO on the No Contact Apprehension Program (NCAP) was bound to happen. Dr.Kamiya nailed the real problem beautifully. Most of us aren't against using technology to clean up the crazy driving habits in Metro Manila, but that 70-30 revenue split in favor of a private PPP contractor is absolutely scandalous.

When a private company gets a massive gross percentage of every single traffic fine, the entire system stops being about public safety and completely transforms into a corporate cash grab. It literally incentivizes the system to trap motorists. It's like what dr. d said—suddenly the digital countdown timers on traffic lights miraculously stop working right when NCAP rolls out? That is incredibly shady.

If the LGUs actually wanted to make the roads safer instead of just acting like buwayas (crocodiles) trying to enrich private entities, they would buy the camera tech outright, fix the faded, overlapping lane markings that BratPAQ mentioned, and run it transparently. Forcing people to take massive detours through secondary roads just to avoid predatory camera traps is proof enough that the implementation was a total mess. Hopefully, the high court keeps this suspension locked down tightly until the whole private-contractor racket is completely stripped out of the program.