By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The Land Transportation Office (LTO) in Western Visayas said they have apprehended at least 290 road violators during the “One time, big time” operation they conducted last Friday.

LTO-6 spokesperson Riza Otayde said the operation was conducted nationwide, and even pointed out it went beyond the numbers they were initially expecting.

Otayde added that there is a possible data increase in the coming days as there are checkpoints without LTO’s conduct.

The most number of apprehensions they made were motorists without license or possessing unregistered vehicles.

It was further noted that several sports and public utility vehicle operators were flagged down due to absence of or negligence in wearing seat belts.

During last week’s enforcement of LTO-Bacolod, several cane trucks were also apprehended due to overloading.

Aside from the LTO, police personnel including the Highway Patrol Group also participated in the operations.

The operations was in response to the order made by President Rodrigo Duterte earlier this month for the LTO to strictly enforce traffic laws due to the number of recent traffic accidents which resulted in multiple fatalities./DGB, WDJ