Reckless driving blamed for growing road accidents
JAKARTA (JP): The number of nationwide traffic accidents in the first six months of this year has reached 8,856, a 12.48 percent increase from the 7,873 of the same period last year, says an officer.
Accidents this year have killed 6,295 people and injured 12,112 others compared to 5,634 dead and 10,529 from January to September last year, National Police Traffic Chief Brig. Gen. Ansyar Roem said Saturday.
"With an average of over 10,000 people killed in traffic accidents every year, this is not a good sign," said Ansyar, the former head of Jakarta Police Traffic Control.
He vowed to take stringent measures against traffic violators in an effort to reduce the growing number of traffic accidents.
"Our investigation revealed that most of the accidents were caused by reckless driving," Ansyar said.
An accident claimed 35 lives and injured dozens on Sept. 13 on the Cakung-Cikunir toll road, when a speeding intercity bus tried to overtake a fuel truck and crashed head-on into a dump truck.
Last year, 31 passengers on an intercity bus burned to death when their air-condition vehicle turned into an inferno after smashing into three cars stopped on the shoulder of the Jagorawi toll road.
Condemned
President Soeharto condemned the driver on Thursday for recklessness and urged that firm measures be taken against all traffic violators.
"There's no place on the road for reckless drivers," said Soeharto.
The bus driver, Riyadi Mulyono, was decapitated in the accident.
It has been proven that Riyadi was not only speeding, but was also intoxicated.
If the final investigation shows that Riyadi was totally to blame for the accident, the police will close the case, according to Ansyar.
"In that case, no one could be charged with an offense because the main suspect, Riyadi, is dead," Ansyar reiterated.
He regretted that drunk driving had yet to be recognized as a crime here.
"It would be good if we could impose stern punishment on reckless drivers, especially drunk drivers. But, we cannot do much because we don't have a regulation which particularly applies to drunk driving," he said.
He called on the public and legislators to recognize the importance of having regulations to deal harshly with reckless drivers.
"So far, the public's response to regulations with penalties has not been that supportive. For instance, they have strongly protested the 1992 Traffic Law Number 14 just because they don't agree to the tougher penalties," Ansyar said.
Police have made various efforts, including advertising new regulations and conducting routine raids on city streets, to develop public awareness on road safety and courteous driving, he said.
However, many people have yet to learn from other's misfortune and are still caught exceeding the maximum speed of 100 kilometers per hour on the Jagorawi toll road.
State-owned toll road management company PT Jasamarga and the City Police joined forces in setting up speed traps and ticketing violators on the Jagorawi toll road a day after the Cikunir crash took place.
At least 16 drivers were fined Monday and 35 on Tuesday.
Data from Jasamarga shows that at least 157 traffic accidents occurred on the Jagorawi toll road in the first eight months of this year.
The data also reveals that the cause of most accidents was recklessness or tiredness. (cst)