Socializing the roads

Socializing the roads

It may not be as dramatic as the bus smash that killed so many
on the Jagorawi, but the new road outside our banjar (part of the
village) in Bali is claiming the same number of lives. The road
that runs from Batubulan to Payangan has just been widened, all
the better to ferry people to hotels and houses owned by well-
connected people. Today, two brothers carving stone statues on
the side of the road to support their family, were killed by a
hit-and-run vehicle. Recently, another two young lives were taken
by a truck driver going too fast to deal with contingencies. Last
Saturday my dearly-loved dog was killed by a driver who sped away
- it could have been my child or that of a member of this
community.

The road going through our banjar is so wide that it has
absorbed the shoulders on which pedestrians fell safe. Now the
car is king (I use the gender-specific term deliberately) and the
fatalities will continue to rise with the lack of responsibility.
Last Saturday night many women were weeping at the loss of sons.
I was weeping at the loss of my canine friend and guardian. And
for what? So tourists can have right of way? So young men in
machines they can't master can go fast?

The new road has raised the temperature in the banjar, asphalt
being a great heat sink and radiator of heat. It has also
significantly raised the level of risk to the community.

While the roads are a mark of so-called progress, they spell
destruction if not constructed with a social conscience and
social planning. Drivers in Indonesia, I am sad to say, are not
encouraged to be sufficiently skilled to handle vehicles and have
little sense of consequence in the absence of personal liability.
The lack of enforcement, and poor quality of driving tuition make
the situation worse. Even the police drive badly and break the
rules. In the meantime who will compensate the families for the
loss of the productive members of that family ? Who will help
fund the ngaben (cremation)? Not the drivers or the agencies that
fund the roads.

Development planners need to take into account the social
impact of economic investments that leaves some members of the
community enriched and other emotionally and economically
impoverished. The real indicators of the development are not the
cheap symbols and labels but the development of a consequent
society and planning system.

MELODY KEMP

Sayan, Bali