Enforcement of bus exit regulation faulty

Enforcement of bus exit regulation faulty

JAKARTA (JP): Deputy Governor for Economic and Development
Affairs TB. M. Rais is urging the central government to clarify
the national law which requires buses to have emergency exits.

Rais said that although the 1993 law stipulates that all buses
must have emergency exits, the city's vehicle test centers cannot
enforce it because they have no standard guidelines.

"I agree that the regulations should be enforced but they need
to be clear about design aspects and other things," he told The
Jakarta Post.

Rais explained that the central government must determine how
the buses are to be designed and their road-worthiness. The
provincial administration, he said, is only meant to uphold the
guidelines.

Rais said the central government should also include
automotive industries, which build the bus bodies, in the design
process.

"It is important to include them because if there are no bus
construction guidelines the automotive companies won't know how
to make them," he said.

Mandatory emergency exits are stipulated in clauses 92 and 93
of the 1993 law on vehicles and drivers. Clause 93 also rules
that signs pointing to exits and explanations of their use must
be displayed.

Last Saturday, March 23, 31 people were killed in a bus
accident. Twenty-nine of the passengers on board the bus, owned
by the Kramatdjati bus company, were killed when the bus hit a
jeep parked on the shoulder of the Jagorawi toll road. Two women
in the jeep were also killed in the collision.

The bus driver later told the police he wasn't able to reach
the control buttons to open the automatic doors, which are the
only exit points.
A Kramatdjati employee said that the company's buses do not
have controls near the exits which allow the doors to be opened
by passengers.

Other inter-city bus companies have said that they either have
no knowledge of a rule requiring all buses to have emergency
exits, or that they generally do not follow it if it exists.

They add that their fleets always pass routine examinations
which check on the construction of each bus, its length, the
width of its doors and other aspects. But the procedure does not
cover the testing of emergency doors.

Rais said that first-aid kits and fire extinguishers are also
required by law.

"The public should realize that this equipment is necessary
for its safety," he said.(yns)