Government mulls road safety plan
Government mulls road safety plan
Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Road accidents have consistently been one of the main killers
across the country over the past five years, with an average of
27 fatalities per day.
Data issued by the National Police Traffic Directorate showed
that 9,856 people were killed in 13,399 accidents in 2003.
According to the Directorate, recklessness and poor law
enforcement are primary reasons of the worryingly high number of
road accidents and casualties over the last five years.
Across the world, 140,000 people are involved in accidents
every day, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Resident coordinator of the United Nations Bo Asplund said
Wednesday that most of the fatalities in Indonesia were people
between 15 and 40 years old.
Data from the National Police shows that 42 percent of all
people killed in road accidents were aged between 22 and 30 years
and 28 percent between 31 and 40 years old.
Approximately 42 percent of fatalities in road accidents are
motorcyclists and 35 percent pedestrians.
Asplund said this substantial loss would result in a massive
decline in productivity. WHO estimates that 2 percent of the
national gross domestic product was spent to cover medical bills
from accidents.
Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar admitted that law enforcement
was still ineffective. "There are still police officers who do
not conform to the rules," he said, referring to officers who
took bribes to "settle" traffic violations on the spot.
The government has been trying for years to implement safety
precautions, such as the use of helmets and seatbelts, but to no
avail. "People only obey the law when honest policemen are
around," Da'i said.
The Ministry of Transportation, the Ministry of National
Education, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of
Resettlement and Regional Infrastructure agreed with the National
Police on Wednesday that they would coordinate efforts in
minimizing road accidents.
Health Minister Achmad Sujudi said the five ministries would
form a team to evaluate major accidents and determine necessary
improvements. The team, named The Global Road Safety Partnership,
will be set up before September.
Each stakeholder will have different responsibilities. The
Ministry of Transportation will establish an Accident
Investigation Unit in all provinces while the police are being
called upon to actually enforce the law and adopt strict
regulations on driving license issuance and renewal.
The Health Ministry plans to set higher standards, as well as
to develop and implement an integrated emergency management
system to provide a timely and capable response to save lives.
Road safety and safe community concepts will also be introduced
in all schools.