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