Joint team to launch operation on highways

JAKARTA (JP): After being postponed for about a week, the City Police Traffic Directorate and state-owned highway operator PT Jasa Marga will start ticketing traffic violators on highways in and around the city beginning tomorrow.

Head of the City Police Traffic Investigation Unit Lt. Col. Herman S. Sumawiredja announced yesterday that the joint force will mainly ticket violators who disobey traffic signs or warnings.

"Our main targets are drivers of public buses and those who violate the traffic signs, such as those driving below or above the recommended speed as well as those traveling in the wrong lane," Herman said.

Among those targeted are those who drive slowly in the right lane and cause fatal accidents through their negligence.

"We find that many drivers, particularly those from other cities, do not know the rules of highway driving," he said.

According to the schedule, ticketing the violators on the toll roads in Greater Jakarta was to be carried out from Oct. 6 to 26.

Herman said that the postponement of the operation was mainly due to the intensive preparation of related institutions, including the City Police Headquarters, for the upcoming Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum meeting in Bogor, some 60 kilometers south of here.

A wide number of personnel of the City Police Traffic Directorate are now being trained to ensure a successful 17- country meeting, he said.

"That's why few officers have so far been assigned to ticket traffic violators on city roads during the ongoing one-month Operation Zebra," Herman explained.

Ticketing traffic violators in the city is part of the authorities' effort to improve the image of the capital and its surroundings ahead of the APEC conference.

Under the new tariff scale, traffic violators, including disobedient pedestrians and vendors, will be fined between Rp 10,000 (US$4.59) and Rp 150,000 per violation. (bsr)