SANTO DOMINGO.- The country’s new top traffic cop has “come down hard” and violators as dozens of motorcycles were seen being hauled onto a truck today, after their drivers were stopped for allegedly running the red light, driving without a helmet, and for the lack of insurance and licenses.

Metropolitan Transit Authority (Amet) director Rafael Bencosme also said the lack of synchronization in the traffic lights, the prolonged blackouts and the theft of cables makes it necessary that the agents remain on the corners to expedite transit.

He denied that the presence of Amet agents contribute to the traffic jams at rush hours, and blames it instead on that the number of vehicles in the streets in the last few years, “has grown alarmingly.”

He said when the electrical energy is interrupted, traffic lights lose the “green wave” and avenues clog up in just a few seconds.

On the capital's Lincoln avenue, an Amet captain by the name of Ventura Ventura, said most of the motorbikes were impounded after their drivers ran the red traffic lights and failed show all the required papers, whereas one of the bikers said, "it's just another dragnet."