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Engine mods proposed to curb road deaths
Indonesia must enforce speed limits, especially on motorcyclists, as 90 percent of the 17,000 motor-related deaths that occur per year in the country are attributed to speeding and reckless driving, an official says
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Indonesia must enforce speed limits, especially on motorcyclists, as 90 percent of the 17,000 motor-related deaths that occur per year in the country are attributed to speeding and reckless driving, an official says.
Director General for Land Transportation at the Transportation Ministry Suroyo Alimoeso said Thursday motorists tended to drive at high speeds without heeding safety laws.
He said action was needed to take the ability to break speed limits away from motorists to minimize accidents, suggesting that vehicle engines be modified to limit speeds.
"The engine speeds of vehicles, especially motorbikes, should be modified to reduce accidents," Suroso said.
Many of Indonesia's roads and highways have speed limits, but motorists tend to ignore the rules.
In an effort to enforce speed limits, the Land Transportation Directorate General is cooperating with Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University's transportation system and technology post-graduate program and the Global Road Safety Partnership to hold a workshop from Dec. 3 to 5 in Yogyakarta on speed management.
Ideas engendered during the meeting about minimizing road accidents and improving safety would be passed onto the government.
Suroso said part of the problem was that advancements in engineering had produced faster consumer vehicles, especially motorbikes.
He said earlier generations of motorbikes could only travel at 7 miles per hour, or 11.27 kilometers per hour, but that the latest models could reach 250 kilometers per hour.
He said his office, in conjunction with relevant agencies, was researching potential economic and sociological impacts of reducing vehicles' maximum speeds.
He said a traffic surveillance system was also essential to reducing the number of traffic accidents. He said surveillance could be carried out by police officers or modern technology.
He said he expected regulating speed limits would stimulate a sense of responsibility and safety among motorists without sacrificing road efficiency.
"We hope that by 2015, facilities, technology, law enforcement and good, proper driver etiquette can be achieved resulting in a zero percent rate of accidents," he said.
