Up to 3 die on city's roads daily

Up to 3 die on city's roads daily

JAKARTA (JP): The capital's traffic police chief said
yesterday that so far this year between two and three people had
died every day in traffic accidents in Greater Jakarta.

Col. Fachrudin Bakar said so far this month 35 people had died
in traffic accidents.

"The number of traffic accident fatalities was 166 in August,
up from 155 in July. Most of the accidents were caused by
speeding and reckless driving," Fachrudin said.

City police data shows that a total of 563 people died in
traffic accidents last year as compared to 462 in 1995.

"Most of the victims died in toll road accidents," he said.

Fachrudin said that his office had striven to help reduce the
growing traffic problems by conducting operations throughout the
city against reckless drivers.

The latest operations have been conducted every day since
Monday and will continue until drivers understood that the police
were serious in their attempts to crack down on bad drivers, he
said.

"An average of 300 ill-behaved drivers of both public
transportation and private vehicles are fined each day, mostly
because of speeding on the toll roads," he said.

He said the police had been using electronic speed-reading
meters to monitor drivers during the operations.

"The number of fined drivers on Thursday 467, the highest
number during the operation," he said. The result of yesterday's
operation was not available.

Fachrudin said his office had started giving public
transportation drivers a three-day training course on Thursday.

"As many as 80 drivers from numerous bus companies are
participating in this first stage. We are targeting to train a
total of 4,000 drivers," he said.

During the course drivers were given theoretical and practical
lessons and tests. They were also psychologically and physically
tested, he said.

"The tests will show whether or not the drivers were mentally
and physically suitable for the tasks."

Fachrudin said that his office would also cooperate with the
City Land Transportation Agency (DLLAJ) to control public
transportation drivers' driving manners.

"Starting Tuesday we are going to issue control cards for each
driver which will be issued by police officers and DLLAJ
officials before they leave bus stations and collected at their
destinations," he said.

The cards, which contain data, including the time taken by the
drivers to finish one trip, would be used to analyze the drivers'
driving attitude, he said.

"The control card program will be examined after three months
to see to what extent it has helped reduce reckless driving," he
said. (cst)