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According to this breaking news article on Inquirer. net, LTO chief Bert Suansing is now saying that a 60kph maximum speed limit will be set for Commonwealth Ave., per Quezon City Ordinance 1836. Implementation will start Tuesday, November 18, 2008.

So, who was wrong? Suansing or ABS-CBN?

According to this clip from ABS-CBN News, the LTO, LTFRB and PNP Highway Patrol Group have jointly announced that a 40kph speed limit will be strictly enforced on Commonwealth Ave.

Another clip says that the LTFRB and bus operators are looking at technical options to limit the speeds of buses. They're looking at a couple of gadgets called the Rev Limiter, which supposedly limits the engine from reaching its maximum rotational speed, and the Speed Limiter, which bogs down the engine once a preset speed limit is reached.

Will these efforts work? We sure hope so.

The MMDA is currently monitoring EDSA to determine the most appropriate speed limit for the major thoroughfare. According to MMDA chair Bayani Fernando, the 40kph speed limit set some time ago is not valid anymore, even if the average speed right of vehicles traversing EDSA is 31.88kph. Fernando believes that since EDSA is considered a "highway", the speed limit should be around 100kph.

100kph on EDSA?! With people crossing on the ground level, buses swerving in and out of the yellow lanes and stopping suddenly at the middle of the road, motorcycles lane splitting and swerving right and left, vehicles going at 40kph driving on the fast lane and staying two lanes out before turning right?! Yeah, right!

Again, we feel that 60kph would be a more appropriate limit, with 40kph being the limit for the yellow lanes. Until drivers and pedestrians learn some discipline (and the only way they can learn is through proper enforcement), then anything faster than this would be ridiculous.

Senior Deputy Minority Floor Leader Roilo Golez wants to up the speed limit "for 'through streets' or boulevards clear of traffic with no blind corners" like EDSA to 60kph for passenger cars and motorcycles and 50kph for trucks and buses. He also managed to make MMDA chairman Bayani Fernando sound like an ignorant ninny. Read the full article here.

Like we've mentioned before, we feel that a separate speed limit should be set for the yellow lanes. This makes a lot more sense compared to setting the limits based on the type of vehicle. Since most of the buses are supposed to use the yellow lanes (only provincial buses can use the regular lanes), then they will be forced to follow this. As for trucks, assuming that they are well maintained and that the drivers are well-trained, then following the standard speed limit should not be a problem.