MANILA, Philippines - Starting today (October 24), motorcycle drivers will be fined if they stray outside the designated "blue lane" along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City and Macapagal Boulevard in Pasay City.

Atty. Francis Tolentino, chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), said the agency believes the one week dry-run last week was more than enough to educate the motorcycle riders.

He said violators of the policy along Macapagal Boulevard would be fined P1,200. Violators along Commonwealth Avenue, on the other hand, would be fined P500.

He explained the discrepancy in the fines was due to differences in the traffic ordinances in Pasay City and Parañaque.

Tolentino reported that 3,451 violators were apprehended during during the dry-run which started October 17. Violators were made to undergo an on-the-spot traffic safety seminar.

Tolentino said the riders are not exempt from the 60-kilometer per hour speed limit imposed on the two roadways.

He said motorcycle riders should also turn on their headlights even during daytime, based on a revived implementation of an old MMDA memorandum. Violators will be fined P150 for every offense, he said.

Tolentino downplayed complaints from riders that they are more prone to danger in the designated lanes which are in the middle of the two roadways.

"If motorcycle lanes are placed on inner most or outermost lanes, they have to swerve eight lanes just to turn right or turn left. It is more dangerous for them and even a potential conflict zone," he explained.

Data from the MMDA Road Safety Unit showed motorcycle-related accidents continued to rise in recent years, with 12,656 accidents and 104 fatalities in 2008; 13,561 accidents with 105 deaths in 2009; and 16,208 accidents with 177 fatalities in 2010.