Police sterner with traffic offenders

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.