5,000 public transport drivers ticketed from January to June

JAKARTA (JP): A joint operation by the City Land Transportation and Traffic Control Agency and the City Police ticketed over 5,000 public transportation drivers between January and June.

J.P. Sepang, the head of the traffic agency, told reporters on Thursday that most of the drivers were ticketed for violating the government policy requiring public transit vehicles to have their doors closed while moving and operating on their non-assigned route.

Herman Tonglo Langi, agency section head in charge of traffic and transportation supervision, said the operation ticketed 776 traffic violators in January, 419 in February, 866 in March, 1,144 in April, 1,298 in May and 836 in June.

Sepang and Herman were speaking after the closing of a training course for public transit drivers at the City Police training center in Serpong, 15 kilometers west of Jakarta. The course was the second of its kind to be held over the past few months.

Sepang also revealed that the city administration has given the 12-seat suburban transports, KWK and Mikrolet, until December to fully comply with the closed-door policy.

"There'll be no excuses for them after that because we've given them ample time to adjust to the policy," he said.

Sepang said the City Transport Owners Organization will outfit a special door for small minivans at a price of Rp 75,000 (US$34). The new system will make life easier for drivers since a new lever-like device will allow them to open and close the door without having to leave the vehicle.

Courses

The municipal administration has been trying to make life easier for the drivers and their passengers by sponsoring a series of training courses for public transit vehicle drivers.

The presentation of these courses was triggered by public concern over the reckless driving habits among transit drivers, which have caused a series of major accidents recently.

Perhaps the worst of these was an accident involving a packed minibus which careened into the muddy, heavily polluted Sunter River. Thirty-three people were killed in the accident that drew public outrage.

City Police records indicate that the number of traffic accidents, especially those caused by driver negligence, has increased significantly in the last few years.

Last year alone, 36 out of 249 serious accidents in the capital were caused the reckless driving of public bus drivers.

Between January and March 1994, for example, out of 30 fatal accidents involving city buses, four were due to the negligence of drivers.

The just concluded two-week course, which saw the participation of 103 bus drivers, is the second to be held by the city administration. The first was held last April.

The Deputy Governor for Administrative Affairs, Idroes, said in a prepared speech that two weeks is not long enough for a an adequately comprehensive training course.

"It is, of course, too short to improve the drivers' discipline," Idroes said.

However, Idroes, told the drivers who took the course that he expects to see them setting good examples for their fellow drivers and giving the public their best possible service.

Lt. Col. Triyarto, the training center chief, said that the curriculum for the course emphasizes character building.

"We adopt a military style discipline into the curriculum," he said, adding that the instructors included police officers, officials from the BP7 body for the study of Pancasila and the City Bureau of Psychological and Spiritual Development.

Triyarto said the typical training day starts at 5 a.m. with morning exercises and usually ends at 10 p.m. (mds/03)