The Inter-Agency on Traffic (I-ACT) wants slow moving funeral procession, a contributor to traffic gridlock, to keep off major thoroughfares in the metropolis.
I-ACT member official Tim Orbos said they are set to meet with funeral transport providers on Thursday to ask them to ply their funeral convoys on narrow or secondary roads instead of already congested major roads.
“We will discuss when we meet with them where will they pass through,” said Orbos, also Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) officer-in-charge.
In sitting down with funeral transport providers, Orbos said guidelines and list of major roads that they have to avoid will be talked about.
“Sometimes long funeral procession is the family’s attribution of love for departed loved ones,” said Orbos.
Funeral processions in the country are held usually with long lines of vehicles, with some funeral attendees choosing to walk, affecting the traffic flow in major roads.
Orbos said there are existing laws in the country that disallows or regulate funeral procession along major roads to avoid congestion. However, rather than banning funeral processions outright, Orbos said opt to interact with them and seek their potential solutions to solve traffic congestion.
Ahead of the meeting, Orbos cited that some funeral services have expressed willingness to cooperate with the MMDA in easing up traffic in the metropolis, especially this Christmas season. (ANNA LIZA ALAVAREN)