Seat belt ruling to be enforced gradually

JAKARTA (JP): A seat belt regulation scheduled to take effect Sept. 17 will only be imposed on sedans and jeeps produced in or after 1984, Herman Latif, chairman of the vehicle road worthiness committee, said on Tuesday.

Owners of other vehicles, including the city's public transportation fleet, produced in or after 1994 will be given a five-year grace period to install the safety devices.

Vehicles not falling under the above categories will be ruled upon later this week by the Ministry of Communication.

"The decision to prioritize sedans and jeeps is taken in line with the results of our research that these kinds of vehicles have been equipped with seat belts from their factories.

"Moreover, the cars ... are mostly imported from countries which impose strict seat belt regulations," said Herman, who is also chairman of the Association of Indonesian Automotive Industries (Gaikindo).

The seat belt regulation is stipulated in a six-year-old law on traffic and transportation.

According to Article 23 of the controversial law, motorists failing to wear their seat belts face a maximum sentence of one month in jail or a Rp 1 million (US$86) fine.

The rule comes into effect on Sept. 17, as stipulated in Government Regulation No. 43/1993.

The National Police's head of traffic law enforcement, Col. Deda Suwandi, said that sedan and jeep owners would not automatically be ticketed if they were found not using their seat belts after Sept. 17.

"For the first three months, we will concentrate more on disseminating information about the new ruling.

"Starting from January next year, motorists will be asked to abide by the ruling," he said.

Deda said that during the three-month grace period, police would give a maximum of three warnings to violators.

"We will jot down the names of violators and cross-check the data later.

"Those found breaking the rule more than three times will face legal sanctions," he said.

"I admit that we (police) have a difficult job in enforcing the regulation because we operate in a manual way. For instance, we have to stop cars to check whether the vehicles are already equipped with the belts.

"We realize it will take time to check, thereby affecting traffic flow. But what else can we do?"

When asked if there would be certain areas where police would stop and check vehicles, Deda said that it was all being discussed.

"We will probably check vehicles along roads which are not too busy," he said.

"We will remind motorists whose seat belts are not properly installed because it is obviously dangerous for them to wear." (ind/edt)