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Traffic accidents claim 82 lives per day
The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 11/06/2008 12:43 PM | National
Road accidents claim an average of 30,000 lives per year, or 82 per day, making them Indonesia's number three biggest cause of death and road transport the most dangerous mode of transportation, a seminar revealed Thursday.
"The numbers are based on official data. I personally believe road accidents are like the iceberg phenomenon," Indonesian Consumers Foundation coordinator Tulus Abadi told participants of a discussion on transportation safety at state radio station RRI.
"Traffic accidents are currently the third most frequent cause of death after heart attack and stroke," he added.
Tulus said poor road conditions were to blame along with poor driver standards.
"This is why we urge all concerned parties to immediately improve our road transport system so as to curb the number of deaths," he said.
Director of state insurance company PT Jasa Raharja Diding Anwar said his company spent Rp 500 billion annually on compensation for road accident victims and their families.
Anwar said Jasa Raharja had recently increased the value of compensation for victims by 250 percent.
"We now hand out Rp 25 million for a death, Rp 10 million for medical treatment and Rp 2 million for burial service to each victim's family," Anwar told kompas.com. (amr)
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V. Rossi (not verified) — Thu, 11/06/2008 - 3:47pm
"...poor road conditions were to blame along with poor driver standards." Ya think????
This country has the most inconsiderate, reckless and unacknowledged motor vehicle operators (mobil and sepeda motor) I have ever seen in my life.
Motorbikes rule the road, weave in and out of traffic, operate on sidewalks, run up in the opposite direction, speed, cut off other vehicles and operate in complete reckless abandonment of themselves, their passengers (sometimes 5 including the driver) and others on the road. And what's crazy is they feel their in the RIGHT to do this...! Why this false sense of security on two wheels is beyond my comprehension.
Motorbike transport here is considered like some form of motorized walking; if they can walk there they should be able to ride their bike there as well. And if you hit one of these reckless maniacs (rats on crack), they want you to pay even if they're completely in the wrong.
Cars and trucks, and my God the Metro Mini... do just the same...
Sure the roads are bad, but it's not the road hitting the driver, it's the driver hitting the road that does the killing and injury.
The only solution to the high accident rate is through education and real traffic law enforcement, none of that, "oh Pak, maaf... saya uang kecil..." As the adage goes, if you can't do the time or pay the fine, don't do the crime...
Law enforcement, with teeth and without corruption is the solution to this... and dealerships that blindly sell these means of destruction need to be more responsible as well... but this is not Singapore... and next year it will be 40,000 a year die in traffic accidents... maybe its just an efficient form of population control.