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Riau crash marks peak of traffic
The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Mon, 10/30/2006 11:17 AM
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
As vacationers through-out Indonesia jammed the thoroughfares into major cities, a bloody traffic accident Saturday claimed at least 15 lives in Riau and left four other victims seriously injured.
Nine victims, including both drivers, died at the site of the accident on the highway between Duri and Pekanbaru, in the Pinggir district of Bengkalis regency. An overcrowded passenger wagon collided head-on with a truck transporting soybeans, said Bengkalis Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Edy Setio.
""The wagon was crowded with at least 20 passengers, mostly children,"" Edy said as quoted by Antara. He added that police were still identifying the victims.
The death toll of was the highest ever recorded for an accident during the Idul Fitri holiday. The crash came just one day after Minister of Transportation Hatta Radjasa boasted that traffic accidents had fallen by 57 percent this year compared to last year.
Edy said the victims were rushed to several hospitals, including the Caltex and Permata Bunda Hospitals and a community health center in Pinggir. The accident tied up traffic on the highway.
At least 58 people have been killed in a series of traffic accidents in West Java since the week before Idul Fitri.
Most of the crashes in West Java have occurred along the province's northern coastal roads and its hilly southern highways, said West Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Paiman during an impromptu inspection Sunday in Nagreg, near Bandung.of victims were motorcycle riders, while the rest were passengers of private cars and public buses,"" Antara quoted Paiman as saying.
There were 23 accidents in the Priangan police territory in Bandung, while the rest happened in the police territories of Cirebon, Purwakarta and Bogor.
Paiman said there was a slight decline in the number of victims compared to last year's total of 60 deaths, but the level of fatalities remained high.
Busy northern coastal roads near Cirebon in West Java were flooded with thousands of vacationers Sunday traveling by various means, including motorcycles, private vehicles, chartered minibuses and intercity buses.
Large traffic jams resulted, especially near traditional markets in Losari district, Gebang, Kapetakan and Palimanan.
Thousands of travelers from East and Central Java were forced to drive at a snail's pace, with the lines of vehicles stretching for dozens of kilometers. ""Long backups always happen near the traditional markets. It lengthens our journeys for hours,"" said Haryanto, who drove a motorcycle from Solo to Jakarta.
A similar complaint was lodged by Sobirin, a resident of Pemalang, Central Java, who was returning to Jakarta. ""The journey to Jakarta, which usually takes only four or five hours, was as long as 10 hours due to the traffic jams,"" he said.
In Palembang, South Sumatra, ticket scalpers took advantage of the increasing number of passengers in bus terminals, railway stations and airports, hoping to get a windfall before the end of the holiday season.
