Traffic accidents claim 200 lives

KUPANG, East Nusa Tenggara: At least 200 people died in 353 traffic accidents last year in the province, police have said.

Chief of the provincial police, Col. Sawal Hariadi, said over the weekend that negligence was the major reason for many of the accidents, which also seriously wounded 207 people and caused another 335 to sustain minor injuries.

The number of road accidents in 1997 was an increase from the previous year, in which 281 were recorded with 197 fatalities.

"The public's lack of awareness to abide by traffic rules has contributed to the rise of accidents here," Sawal said, reported Antara.

But he also admitted that inadequate traffic signs, drunken motorists and bad roads also contributed to the accidents.

When it came to the crime rate, Sawal said police handled 2,450 incidents last year, a 7 percent drop from 2,607 the previous year. He said most of the crimes in 1997 comprised armed robberies, assaults and rapes.

He predicted that crimes would remain prevalent this year, due in part, to people's high tempers and a lack of police officers.

He said that the ratio of police officers to the population was 1-to-1,052. He pointed out that this is far from an ideal rate of one police officer for every 750 people, as recently stated by Armed Forces Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung. (amd)