Council called on to reconsider some traffic rules

Council called on to reconsider some traffic rules

JAKARTA (JP): The City Police yesterday asked the City Council
to reconsider the applicability of some traffic regulations,
which have now gone into effect but are hard to carry out.

"We, for example, have not yet found a proper method on how to
detect how long non-Jakarta cars have been traveling in the
city," Col. Soeroso, the head of Traffic Directorate of the City
Police(Kaditlantas) told the City Council's Commission A on law
and administrative affairs during a hearing on a progressive car
tax system with the commission yesterday.

Soeroso was answering the question of city councilor Edi
Sukiswantari Probo on how his directorate would implement a
ministerial decree which stipulates that any cars from other
provinces found to have been in the city for at least 90 days are
subject to tax.

Soeroso said it was easy for owners of cars with non-Jakarta
license plates to get around the rule by going outside the city
limits, such as to Bogor or Tangerang, for some hours and then
returning to Jakarta.

Another difficult problem faced by police in the
implementation of traffic regulation issued by the city
administration, Soeroso said, was the handling of the so-called
three-in-one kids.

"We caught and briefed them not to offer themselves for a lift
to motorists to make the number of their passengers three. We
even gave them meals in custody. But the next morning, they were
there again, offering their services to passing cars.

"We, of course, cannot do that everyday," he said.

Soeroso said there was a driver of a car which was netted for
giving a lift to such a child.

When asked why he did so, the driver defended that as far as
the three-in-one rule was concerned, taking a child to make the
number of his car's passengers three by no means violated the
rule. "How can you say I disobeyed the rule? I have two
passengers with me," Soeroso quoted the driver as saying.

"We could do nothing but release the car," Soeroso said.

"It is we who are supposed to enforce the implementation of a
law or rule. Hence, we hope law makers do not create rules which
are too difficult for us to implement," he said.

The three-in-one rule was introduced about two years ago to
reduce traffic congestions along the city's roads. The rule
dictates that every car using particular roads during morning
rush hours must have at least three passengers.

Decentralization

During a visit to East Jakarta with city councilors to monitor
the process of vehicle document issuance, Soeroso said police
will decentralize the Samsat system in the near future in order
to make it easier for motorists to procure the documents.

The Samsat system is an integrated administrative office in
charge of issuing various vehicle documents, such as license
plates, in each of the city's five mayoralties.

The system, which is at present concentrated at the city
police headquarters and in East Jakarta, is overseen by the city
police, the City Revenue Office and the Jasa Raharja state-owned
insurance company.

With the decentralization, motorists who live in Central, West
or South Jakarta, for instance, will not have to go to the city
police headquarters anymore. Currently motorists who live in
North Jakarta have to go to Samsat office on Jl. Panjaitan, East
Jakarta, for renewing their license plates.

Lt. Col. Soekarno Yatno GA, head of Traffic Directorate at the
City Police in charge of the collection of taxes on the ownership
of motor-vehicles and the transfer of such ownership, said that
last year the city administration received Rp 533 billion in
vehicle taxes.

Soekarno said at present there are 2.35 million vehicles
registered at the city police headquarters but only 1.25 million
of them paid their taxes regularly. (arf)