Let's fix our buses

Let's fix our buses

The 10 children who were killed in Wednesday's bus accident in
Jember, East Java, were from the Theobrama II Kindergarten in the
village of Kemuningkulon, Arjasa district, Jember regency, East
Jakarta. With parents and teachers, they were heading to Pasir
Putih beach in Situbondo for a picnic.

Whether the brakes of the state-owned Damri bus failed is
being investigated. What is clear is that the bus was overloaded,
with 47 seats and 107 passengers. The driver lost control when
the bus was on an incline and hit a bridge, crashing to the rocky
bottom of a nearly dried up river (In all, 22 were killed).

In the mountain resort of Puncak recently, a bus whose brakes
failed caused a chain accident involving 16 vehicles, killing two
people.

Frequent accidents may have left people without the capacity
to care about vehicle and traffic safety. And promises are always
made that bus services will improve along with increased fares.

But the causes of many of these accidents point to poor
management of bus companies and poor maintenance of buses; which
shows an uncaring attitude toward the work.

Everyone praised the outpouring of public participation in
aiding the victims of the recent floods in Jakarta. This attitude
should be developed in other public affairs, such as
transportation. No excuse should be put forward to counter
arguments for greater safety measures and more comfortable bus
services. We cannot be a nation that can only complain.