Order on toll roads urgently needed

Order on toll roads urgently needed

In the name of practicality, toll roads are currently no longer treated as freeways.

At any given moment, we can see how city buses pick up and drop off passengers at will on some sections of the roads. This is not only against traffic rules, but also disturbs other road users and has the potential of causing accidents.

On the Cikampek freeway, buses also let passengers get off on the bridge of Pekayon, Bekasi. On the Jagorawi toll road, the same thing can be found at the ex-toll gate of TMII, Cibubur.

In Tangerang, buses even are freely parking on toll road shoulder lanes, waiting for passengers.

Buses also stop on urban toll routes around Cawang, Pancoran and Slipi, allowing passengers to leave the public cars, jump over fences and cross the roads, despite the fast-moving traffic in the artery line.

The most decisive factor, however, is the attitude of passengers. If only they knew that the habit was wrong that they could be punished for complicity, they might not force bus drivers to stop at dangerous spots.

Yet the situation is inseparable from the unfavorable circumstances in general -- from the traffic congestion to the increasingly indifferent and permissive city dwellers.

Traffic often reflects its society. So, it seems that Jakarta's messed-up roads constitute a mirror image of the confused state of our public life.

-- Warta Kota, Jakarta