Expert pushes for road safety law

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Wed, 06/07/2006 2:33 PM | Jakarta

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Last year, over 1,000 people died in road crashes in Greater Jakarta, and many more suffered injuries.

Therefore, one expert sees the deliberation of the 1992 Land Transportation and Traffic Control Law at the House of Representatives as an opportunity to highlight the condition of the city's roads, which could be a major factor in many accidents.

The bill is being drafted by the Transportation Ministry and has already stirred debate, because it could give the ministry -- not police -- the authority to issue driver's licenses and register vehicles.

Tri Tjahyono, an expert on road safety from the University of Indonesia, said that neither the bill nor the prevailing law paid enough attention to road safety.

""There are no significant differences between the bill and the prevailing law, regarding road safety,"" he said on the sidelines of a seminar on the bill in Jakarta on Monday. ""The only differences lie in the procedures for getting a driver's licenses and registering a vehicle"".

He said that, when talking about road accidents, the government tended to concentrate on the state of the vehicle, rather than the driver's behavior and the condition of the road.

There are no regulations on drunk driving, which means people caught driving under the influence are charged with reckless driving.

Tri said police should carry out random breath tests and there should be stiffer penalties for drunk driving and speeding than for other offenses categorized as ""reckless"".

""Without more specific regulations, speeding cases just don't stand up in court"".

The bill, he said, also needed to address the problem of speed bumps being built by residents, because some of the bumps were so high they were causing accidents.

He also suggested the bill incorporate regulations on post-accident matters.

""Accident victims must have access to medical treatment in the hospital, without having to pay a cent,"" he said. ""And a hospital should be held culpable if it refuses to treat an accident victim.""

The number of deaths on city roads has sharply increased over the last three years.

City police reported that 300 people died in road accidents in 2002, 500 in 2003, 1,100 in 2004 and 1,116 in 2005.

While the National Police said that between 12,000 to 14,000 people died each year in road crashes nationwide.

The Health Ministry, however, reported that at least 35,000 people died in road accidents in 2004.

Tri said the increasing incidence of road trauma and deaths was in line with the development of the country's motorcycle industry. Motorcycle sales increased from 14,000 units in 2000 to nearly 30,000 units in 2004.

""If the government fails to address this problem, the number of fatalities will increase by 100 percent within four or five years"". (01)

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