Ticketing for traffic violations goes digital 

Transportation chief Jay Art Tugade demonstrate how to issue traffic tickets using a Law Enforcement Handheld Mobile Device during the refresher course and re-training of LTO law enforcers in Quezon City on January 30, 2023. PHOTO BY MIKE DE JUAN

THE “manual” Temporary Operator’s Permit (TOP) that is usually given to individuals apprehended by a Land Transportation Office (LTO) enforcer for traffic violations, will soon be a thing of the past.

LTO Chief Assistant Secretary Jose Arturo “Jay Art” Tugade said the new Law Enforcement Handheld Mobile Device that will be able to print a violation receipt or electronic-TOP (e-TOP) will be distributed to the agency’s law enforcers by the second week of February.

“Next week, TO enforcers will no longer issue manual TOPs. So for motorists caught by the LTO enforcers, you will receive a machine-generated TOP,” Tugade said in an interview on Wednesday.

Likewise, traffic law violations entered on these handheld devices cannot be altered any more.

The law enforcement handheld mobile device, which is similar to the portable Point of Sales (POS) device commonly found in groceries that reads or scans a credit card, has a built-in camera and fingerprint scanner for LTO traffic enforcers to use in verifying whether the driver’s license presented is fake or genuine.

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The camera can also be used as a face recognition scanner.

In addition, the device has two mobile data SIM cards to allow internet connectivity and enable data to be sent directly to the LTO online system.

However, even without internet mobile connectivity or if the device is offline, it can still issue a traffic violation ticket, Tugade said.

“Once mobile data connectivity is available, all transactions will be uploaded and saved directly to our servers,” he explained.

Tugade said once the LTO finalizes the cashless payment feature of the law enforcement handheld mobile devices, those with traffic violations will be able to pay their fines using credit cards or loaded wallets.

“The second phase of our digitization in the issuance of e-TOP is the cashless payment method where the motorist can now pay the fine in the actual place where he was caught violating the traffic law,” the LTO chief said.