Public transport ranks highest in traffic violations

JAKARTA (JP): City Police Chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata urged public transportation drivers yesterday to improve their driving behavior as, according to police records, they rank highest in traffic violations.

Hamami said 45 percent of 137,689 traffic violations in the first six months of this year were by public transportation drivers alone.

"Bus drivers held the highest record of total traffic violations reaching 29,300 cases as of June," Hamami said.

Their record was followed by divers of mikrolet minivans with 11,241 violations, and drivers of Metromini medium-sized buses with 9,872, and taxi drivers with 3,837, he said.

Hamami made the remarks at a meeting with public transportation drivers and representatives of public vehicle owners associations and related government institutions at City Police Headquarters.

"Those figures, coupled with other issues ranging from technical traffic problems to current strikes by bus drivers in protest of the introduction of new fleets on crowded routes, show that city traffic conditions are poor," Hamami said.

He also called on public transportation drivers not to hold strikes to settle problems with bus owners or the City Land Transportation Agency. Deliberation, he said, was more appropriate than strikes.

Strikes increase with the intensity of conflicts between drivers, owners, and the agency, Hamami said.

There were at least 14 different strikes held by public transport drivers throughout the city this month alone, he said.

Muliadi, a mikrolet driver who serves the Bekasi-Cikarang Baru route, attended the meeting. He blamed the strikes on the owners' ambition to expand their businesses by opening new routes along routes that were already crowded.

However, a public transport owner, Abdul, said the agency should take more responsibility for the problems as their officers gave the green light to open new routes without considering the drivers' interests.

The agency's chief, J.P. Sepang, said the decision to open a new route was only made if the plan was thoroughly appraised and it was proved that it would not harm existing fleets.

Soldier

In a related development, Sepang yesterday criticized truck owners who hired soldiers to escort their trucks.

He said by hiring the soldiers, the owners have violated existing regulations for the sake of their own profits.

"With soldiers sitting beside drivers, even the police are scared to check or ticket those who violate traffic regulations," Sepang said. The soldiers often escort trucks on trips to deliver goods.

Some soldiers were also involved in illegal practices, in which private cars are used to carry commuters at night, he said.

He said he understood that soldiers were just trying to earn extra income by being drivers. "But many of them threaten drivers of legal transportation vehicles."

Chief of Jakarta Military Garrison Brig. Gen. Yudomo SHD, who was also present at the meeting, said soldiers were not allowed to patronize trucks or public transportation owners.

He promised to investigate the reports and impose firm sanctions against soldiers who were found guilty of such practices.

Yudomo, however, blamed owners for hiring the soldiers. "Soldiers wouldn't do that if someone didn't ask them," Yudomo said. (07/cst)