Seat belts a must in public vehicles
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)