Poor reporting<\/p>\n
In Wednesday Dec. 6, 1995, edition of The Jakarta Post your
\narticle on page two, entitled Indonesians the worst drivers in
\nthe world, contains a number of misquotations and is generally
\ntotally misrepresentative of my speech given at the Traffic
\nManagement Workshop at the University of Gadjah Mada in
\nYogyakarta on Dec. 5, 1995.<\/p>\n
Your article quotes me as saying \"When it comes to traffic
\ndiscipline Indonesians are rated among the worst in the world.\" I
\nnever made that statement, furthermore I do not believe it to be
\ntrue. Your article then claims I said \"... lack of discipline
\namong Indonesian motorists is the chief cause of traffic
\ncongestion found in the country's large cities.\" Again I never
\nmade that statement and, as a traffic engineer, I do not believe
\nit to be true.<\/p>\n
Your article goes on to quote me directly as saying \"Compared
\nto other developing countries, the number of violations against
\ntraffic regulations and signs in Indonesia is highest.\" Again I
\nnever made that statement and I would not have done so because I
\nhave no statistics with which to relate the number of violations
\nor even the rate of violations made in Indonesia compared to
\nother countries.<\/p>\n
Your next direct quotation \"I found that almost every traffic
\nmarks and signs are violated,\" was also not made.<\/p>\n
Your article quoted me as saying that I was puzzled by the
\nrelatively low traffic accident rate in Indonesia compared to
\nthat found in the West. I did make reference to accident rates
\nand compared the accident rate in Indonesia of 14 deaths per
\n10,000 vehicles a year with the rate in some African countries
\nwhich are 10 times higher. I congratulated Indonesia on having
\nsuch a low rate but added that there was no room for complacency
\nbecause many countries in the West have accident rates of two
\ndeaths per 10,000 vehicles a year. This includes the UK which
\nconsiders even this rate to be too high and has a target of
\nreducing it by one third by the year 2000.<\/p>\n
A transcript of my speech was available at the Workshop and
\nreference to it would confirm that your article totally
\nmisrepresents it. Reference to driving habits and techniques was
\na very small proportion of it and did not include any
\ninternational comparisons. It was used solely to illustrate how
\nchannelization and road markings can be used to improve bad
\ndriving habits.<\/p>\n
DAVID STEWART<\/p>\n
Semarang, Central Java<\/p>\n
Note: We based our report on Antara news agency's story.<\/p>\n
-- Editor<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/poor-reporting-1447899208", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }