Govt revokes Kramatdjati bus license<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The Director General of Land Transportation
\nyesterday revoked the license of the Kramatdjati bus on which 31
\npeople died in an accident on the Jagorawi toll road on Saturday.<\/p>\n
J.A. Barata, spokesman for the Directorate General, told The
\nJakarta Post that the revocation is to be applied only to the one
\nvehicle and will be effective from today. It means the company
\nwill not be able to replace the destroyed bus.<\/p>\n
Director General of Land Transportation Sujono had earlier
\ngiven a stern warning to the company's management, Barata said.<\/p>\n
The Kramatdjati bus company, owned by the Arief Budiman
\nfamily from Bandung, West Java, currently operates 152 buses on
\nvarious routes in Java.<\/p>\n
Commenting on the incident, the Indonesian Consumers
\nProtection Foundation called on carmakers which make large buses
\nto design emergency exits on buses to help passengers escape in
\nemergencies.<\/p>\n
The foundation chairperson, Tini Hadad, said yesterday that
\nlarge buses for public transportation should be equipped with
\nemergency doors.<\/p>\n
"The passengers must be informed where the emergency exit is
\nand how to open it in case of an emergency," Tini told the Post,
\nadding that most bus companies and crew ignore passengers' safety
\nrights.<\/p>\n
Fire extinguishers and hard objects to break windows in case
\nof emergencies should be available on buses, she said.<\/p>\n
Thirty one people were killed when a speeding Kramatdjati
\npublic bus on the Jakarta-Bandung route hit a police jeep on the
\nJagorawi tollway on Saturday. Twenty-nine of the victims were bus
\npassengers, and the two others were a policewoman and an
\nofficer's wife.<\/p>\n
The bus driver, Agus Effendi, 39, and the bus conductor,
\nAde.S., are now in police custody for questioning.<\/p>\n
Reports said the driver was drunk when driving the bus, and
\npolice found barbiturate pills in his pocket soon after he was
\ncaught.<\/p>\n
Pills<\/p>\n
"The driver may be prosecuted for his negligence. He may be
\naccused of causing other people's death intentionally. He is a
\npublic bus driver but he took barbiturate pills before driving.
\nIf found guilty he may face a life sentence," City Police
\nSpokesman Lt. Col. Iman Haryatna said.<\/p>\n
According to Tini Hadad, the point is not only the ignorance
\nof the driver. "The company should have been more selective in
\nrecruiting new drivers," Tini said.<\/p>\n
She said that a possessing driver's license does not guarantee
\nthat a driver is reliable. "People can buy a driver's license,
\ncan't they?"<\/p>\n
The wife of the owner of the Kramatdjati bus, Mrs. Agus
\nBudiman, told the Post in Bandung yesterday that the company had
\nbeen very careful in selecting drivers. "Agus is one of our best
\ndrivers," she claimed.<\/p>\n
She said all Kramatdjati bus drivers are good drivers and are
\nwell paid. "The Kramatdjati family was shocked on hearing the
\nnews of the deadly accident," she said, adding that adequate
\ncompensation will be given to the victims' relatives.<\/p>\n
The Consumers Foundation sees the core problem as a lack of
\ndiscipline in Indonesian society.<\/p>\n
"If the drivers respected traffic regulations they would not
\ndrive recklessly. The highway corporation PT Jasa Marga should
\nsupervise reckless drivers more tightly," Tini said.<\/p>\n
In a related development, lawyer R. Dwiyanto Prihartono of the
\nJakarta branch of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute said
\nyesterday that the victims' relatives could file lawsuits against
\nboth the driver and the bus company.<\/p>\n
Dwiyanto, head of the operational division, said if the driver
\nis found guilty of using barbiturate pills he could face two
\ncharges. "First he would be prosecuted for his negligence that
\ncaused other people's death and he could also be charged with
\nusing illegal substances," he said. (sur\/raw\/17\/04\/bsr)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/govt-revokes-kramatdjati-bus-license-1447893297",
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