Concerted efforts needed to reduce traffic accidents

Concerted efforts needed to reduce traffic accidents

JAKARTA (JP): The bodies of the 31 people who were killed in last week's traffic accident on the Jagorawi toll road have been buried. That, however, does not mean the story has ended. The authorities are still probing the case, collecting evidence to decide who should be held responsible for the dreadful tragedy.

The accident on March 23, one of the most horrible road mishaps in the country, occurred when a Kramatdjati bus turned into an inferno after smashing into a Toyota jeep at the Jagorawi turnpike, 40 kilometers south of here.

All blamed the driver, Agus Arifin, who jumped out of the bus immediately after the collision. Most of the passengers were trapped in the vehicle and failed to escape as they could not open the automatic doors.

Agus, who is in his late 30s, admitted that he had taken barbiturate pills before driving. Several pills were also found in his clothing.

He said he left Bandung at 1 a.m. on March 23, and arrived in the Kampung Rambutan Bus Terminal in East Jakarta three hours later. He slept after taking several bottles of beer. As soon as he got up at 8 a.m., he took two barbiturate pills, picked up his passengers and left for Bandung.

At around 10:30 a.m., as he was traveling along the Jagorawi toll road, he tried to overtake several vehicles by swerving on to the hard shoulder. He did not see the three cars which were parked there, and hit a Toyota jeep which was at the end of the line.

No vehicles are allowed to stop on the hard shoulder of the highway. In an emergency, motorists may park there but they have to put up a safety triangle to warn other motorists of their presence.

The Toyota jeep was reportedly parked there as the driver wanted to add some water to the radiator. The other two vehicles stopped because they were driving as a group. The travelers were on their way to the Safari Park in Cisarua, Bogor.

The accident would not have happened if the bus driver had shown more discipline. The bus would not have smashed into the Toyota jeep had it not stopped on the hard shoulder of the highway. It might not have happened if the bus driver had not taken barbiturate pills earlier in the morning.

But there are no time machines, and there is nothing people can do to change what has happened. A relevant question is how to prevent more accidents.

The Jasa Raharja state insurance company has paid compensation to the relatives of some of the victims. The Directorate General of Land Transportation has revoked the license of the Kramatdjati bus. The driver, who is still in police custody, will probably stand trial. But, neither the money nor the revocation of the bus license nor any punishment that may be meted out against Agus can bring back the dead. Agus might be charged with murder based on Article 338 of the Criminal Code, which carries a maximum 15-year jail term.

Last year the North Jakarta District Court found a Metromini city bus driver, Ramses Silitonga, guilty of causing the death of 33 people in a horrible accident on March 6, 1994. He was jailed for 15 years.

The packed Metromini bus was speeding when Silitonga lost control. It plunged into a highly polluted river and most of the victims drowned in the dirty water.

The judges pointed out that Metromini bus drivers are notorious for their poor discipline. Thus, the sentence was a warning that the court would not hesitate to mete out stiff punishment against other reckless bus drivers.

It seems, however, that despite the harsh punishment given to Silitonga, things remain pretty much the same. Many bus drivers continue to drive recklessly, showing little discipline and little, if any, care about passenger safety.

Some of them claim they have to speed up because "time is money." If they can save time, they will be able to make more trips and pick up more passengers, and that means more money. Otherwise they will not be able to make both ends meet.

It is easy to put all the blame on bus drivers, but the problem is more complicated than just their poor discipline and desire to earn as much as possible. Bus drivers are not the only one who lack discipline. Motorists too often violate the minimum speed limit of 80 kmh on intercity toll roads and 40 kmh for city toll roads, driving slowly in the fast lane, forcing other motorists who are in a hurry to overtake them from the left, thus violating the regulation prohibiting overtaking from the left.

The 29 Kramatdjati passengers who were burned to death died because they could not open the automatic doors. The surviving passengers blamed the driver because he did not open the doors before jumping out of the bus. But the Indonesian Consumers Protection Foundation also believed that the bus company should share the responsibility as it did not provide any fire extinguishers or hard objects to break the windows in case of an emergency. The foundation also said that large public buses should be equipped with emergency doors.

Facts show, however, that the main reason behind traffic accidents is the lack of discipline. Only a few cases occurred because of engine troubles or poor road conditions.

The police have made some efforts to improve discipline among motorists by regularly launching special operations to catch traffic violators.

National Police Chief Banurusman Astrosemitro is determined to pay serious attention to the traffic as he is aware that fatal accidents could happen at anytime.

"We will focus mainly on the improvement of the public's awareness of the law and the police's attitude to its implementation," he said recently.

It is no longer a secret that in many traffic cases, violators prefer to settle the case "peacefully" by handing over a sum of money, which is all too often accepted by the police.

Both drivers and passengers need to show more discipline. But at the same time, the authorities should be persistent in taking action against traffic violators. This is not a guarantee that a road trip will be 100 percent safe. But at least, the number of traffic accidents might be reduced and more lives saved. (sim/bsr)