This is part of our vision to become a world, class smart city. Automation is one of the steps towards achieving smart city status.

Mayor Rexlon Gatchalian

Mayor Rex Gatchalian is one of the younger sets of local chief executives who tirelessly work for the betterment of his city. He hasn’t run out of ideas. One of his innovative ones is his plan to seriously implement the “no contact apprehension policy” in Valenzuela by September 16. How will he do this? By activating a first world technology that another city, Paranaque, has proved to be highly effective in limiting traffic accidents and instilling discipline among motorists.

Called the no contact apprehension policy system or NCAP, this involves highly sophisticated cameras that easily detects traffic violations when it occurs. Already in place in other smart global cities such as Singapore, Malaysia, Hongkong, Japan, and Australia, these cameras are placed in strategic locations all around the city. When a motorist speeds beyond the normal city speed limits, these cameras catch violators by their car plates. Details of the car plates are then matched with the computer database of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and sent to a central processing unit.

A digital citation ticket is then sent via snail mail to the address of the person who owns the vehicle. The motorist cannot simply renew the car’s or vehicle’s registration without paying off his fine.

Mayor Gatchalian even thought things thru when he says that the violator can go to any bank authorised by the city government to collect the traffic fees.

When this system was implemented in Paranaque a year and a half ago, the system reportedly detected more than 30,000 violations in just a span of a week. IN just six months, traffic violations were halved and right now, it is just within the span of about 5,000 violations.

Observers see the system as an efficient and effective deterrent for traffic violations. It likewise instils discipline among motorists since only a few erring motorists commit the same mistake and pay the same fees thrice.