Police sterner with traffic offenders
Evi Mariani, Jakarta
The higher number of tickets issued by traffic police in the past few months did not indicate an increase in violations but was due to a get-tough policy on offenders, the head of the Jakarta Police traffic law enforcement division said.
"Since the economic crisis in 1997, followed by the reform era, people became more concerned about politics and political freedom. Discipline on the streets became weak," Comr. Naufal Yahya said recently.
Police began to clamp down on traffic offenders earlier this year. Tickets issued this year reached 40,000 a month on average, compared to last year's 26,000 tickets a month.
During the legislative election campaign, the police ticketed 960 offenders on March 11, the first day of the campaign. The figure was considerably higher than the 1999 election when police did not issue tickets to party supporters who violated traffic regulations.
Police would issue tickets to motorists ignoring the road rules to show they were not fabricating the offenses, Naufal said.
"People generally accuse the police of abusing their power if officers ticket motorists for (minor offenses like) not carrying complete documents," he said.
"Before ticketing motorists, we will first distribute information on the regulations so the people will know how to act."
Police have distributed leaflets explaining traffic rules and penalties before, during the trial period of the extended three- in-one traffic policy and the mandatory seat belt rule.
If the police took sterner measures, the public would improve their discipline on the roads, Naufal said.
Education was also effective in increasing road discipline and police regularly visited schools to educate students on traffic safety, he said.
A transportation expert at the University of Indonesia, Alan Marino, emphasized the better design of road infrastructure and sensible regulations, which he said would lead to traffic discipline.
"For example, if the city provides sidewalks that meet the needs of pedestrians, they will not spill over on to streets designed for cars and motorcycles," he said, referring to sidewalks occupied by street vendors.
"Or, if the time-span of the green light is too short, of course motorists will tend to drive through red lights."
The Fantasy World amusement center in Ancol, North Jakarta, was an example of how good design encouraged order, he said.
"Who says Indonesians cannot be disciplined? If you visit Fantasy World, you will see people queuing orderly at every ticket line."
"Why? Because the management has designed the queuing space in a certain way so that the people will feel ashamed if they don't stand in line."
Only after fixing the roads and educating the public should police strictly enforce the law, he said.
Alan was pessimistic sterner police measures against violators would result in significant improvements in road discipline.
"It will undoubtedly contribute to something, but I believe it won't have much effect," he said.