Bogor schools set up student safety zones

Theresia Sufa ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Bogor   |  Tue, 04/29/2008 12:39 PM  |  City

CROSSING IT RIGHT

Walking to school used to be considered dangerous for students of Catholic school Mardi Waluya in Bogor municipality. They were not allowed to walk to school without an adult.

Yohanes Aryo Nugi, a third-grade student from the school used to wait until the traffic in front of the school had died down before crossing the road; and it often took a while.

"Now I just stand at the zebra crossing and the cars stop and let me cross," he said last week.

His school is one of three in Bogor included in the municipality's School Safety Zone program.

During the launch of the program last Friday, Director of Land Transportation at the Transportation Ministry, Iskandar Abubakar, explained the zone was made near schools located on busy streets, where students were more prone to traffic accidents.

The other two schools are public elementary school SDN Cibuluh 1 in Kedunghalang on Jl. Raya Ciluar and SDN Batu Tulis 1 on Jl. Raya Batu Tulis.

The program, he said, obligates motorists to slow down while passing the schools.

"We will introduce the program to other schools and expect the municipality administration to include more schools located on busy streets in the program," he said at the sidelines of the event.

Attending the program launch at Mardi Waluya school, Mayor Diani Budiarto said there were 104 traffic accidents with 17 fatalities in 2006.

"About two people get killed in traffic accidents every other month here. That's why the administration is trying to draw policies aiming to make people aware of traffic rules and to provide safe infrastructure and facilities."

At the event, the Transportation Ministry's secretary-general Harijogi handed 20 public buses over to the administration.

With the additional buses from the ministry, the administration-owned Trans Pakuan bus service has a fleet of 30 buses.

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.