Police, DLLAJ ticket 1,142 buses for violations
Police, DLLAJ ticket 1,142 buses for violations
JAKARTA (JP): A special team of the City Police and the City
Traffic and Land Transportation Control Agency (DLLAJ) has
ticketed a total of 1,142 public transportation drivers in the
last two days for keeping their vehicles' doors open while in
motion.
"The buses were ticketed Tuesday and Wednesday at various
locations, not only on main roads and highways but also on
smaller streets around the city," City Police spokesman Lt. Col.
A. Latief Rabar said yesterday.
Of the drivers ticketed, Latief said 346 were from Metro Mini
minibuses, 226 from state-owned PPD buses, 199 from Mayasari
Bhakti buses, 170 from Kopaja minibuses, 156 from Mikrolet vans,
39 from KWK minibuses, five from Mini Artha minibuses and one
from a Bianglala bus.
"So far the team has arrested none of the violators and
impounded no vehicles in connection with the ticketing," Latief
added.
The enforcement of the regulation began on Sunday.
The ticketing, however, started only two days later in a bid
to allow the crews, owners and the commuters as well to adapt
themselves to the new regulations.
During the first day of the ticketing, the team ticketed 544
bus crews, covering 175 driver of Metromini minibuses, 113 of
Mayasari Bhakti, 87 of Mikrolet vans, 76 drivers of PPD buses, 72
of Kopaja minibuses, 16 KWK minibuses and five of Mini Artha
minibuses.
On the next day, the number went up slightly to 598
violators, consisting of 171 crews of Metromini, 150 of PPD, 98
of Kopaja, 86 of Mayasari Bhakti, 69 of Mikrolet, 23 of KWK and
one Bianglala.
"We're never proud of the large number of violators," Latief
said. "The lower the figure, the better," he said.
Therefore, he said that police are still hoping that the
concerned parties from the public to the bus crews as well as the
owners learn a lesson on how to behave in the streets.
Strict
In a related development, City Council Chairman MH Ritonga
told reporters the authority had to make a definite schedule for
the phasing in of the traffic law.
"There is what we call the sociological aspect of the law. It
means we cannot strictly implement the law once it is enacted. We
need, for example, a conditioning period that the public can
gradually adjust themselves to. But it must be clear when the
conditioning process stops and we start to implement it
strictly," said Ritonga, the former chief of the City Police.
Ritonga said the 1992 traffic law, which took effective as of
September, 1993, obligated public transports to close the doors
while in motion.
"The policy needs some conditioning. But it should be made
clear and definite as to when its enforcement is fully done to
prevent the conditioning period from being protracted," he said.
Earlier, Herdjan Kenasin, chairman of the Jakarta-based
Trisakti Transport Management Academy, told The Jakarta Post the
public transport companies were in fact never prepared for the
close-door policy before.
Before the strict implementation of the regulation, he said,
the government had never enforced the safety regulation and
allowed bus crews to operate recklessly.
"Now it needs time to let bus companies and their employees to
adapt to this new situation," he said, adding the adjustment
might take more than a month. (bsr/jsk)