Seat belts a must in public vehicles

JAKARTA (JP): All public transportation -- taxis, mikrolet (minivans), minibuses and buses -- must be equipped with seat belts in front seats by Sept. 1, an official said yesterday.

Head of the City Land Transportation Agency J.P. Sepang said vehicles without the devices would not pass the road-worthiness test.

"They will be given a temporary notice showing only that the vehicles have taken the test. Certificates will be issued only after the vehicles are already equipped with the belts."

Sepang said the requirement was made by his office in an attempt to comply with the city's Sept. 17 deadline for seat belt use by all drivers and front seat passengers of public transportation vehicles and private automobiles in the capital.

Legal sanctions come into effect on that date according to Article 23 of the six-year-old regulation on traffic and transportation, he said.

Violators face a maximum one-month jail sentence or Rp 1 million fine.

Sepang said he understood that owners of public transportation vehicles would have to spend extra money to meet the regulation while private vehicle owners would not encounter the same problem.

He added that the vehicle registration office -- managed jointly by the police and city administration -- would start pressing the need for use of seat belts by private car owners when the latter visit the office to process their vehicle documents.

When asked to comment on Sepang's order, an executive of a minibus cooperative suggested the government should delay the application of the seat belt regulation until the monetary crisis was over.

Secretary of KOPAJA Mocthar Sholeh said it was difficult for the owners to provide their buses or minibuses with the belts during the crisis.

Mochtar said all public transportation owners were weighed down by the dramatic increase in vehicle spare part prices and the decline in the number of passengers.

"The price of a seat belt is perhaps only Rp 50,000 each. But buying the belts for dozens of our buses at the same time will only burden us."

He also argued that seat belts were not a necessity for the safety of the bus or minibus driver.

"All buses and minibuses used as public transportation means are specially modified. The distance and position of the steering wheel and driver's seat are made to avoid the driver from crashing into the steering wheel during an accident," said Mochtar.

"I didn't say that we're against the regulation. It's made for our own good. But, please give us time to prepare for it." (cst)