The city's Transportation Agency, starting next year, will gradually change the traffic lights system into one that can reduce the dependency on electricity supply from State Power Company PT PLN.
Head of the agency Mochammad Tauchid Tjakra Amidjaja said the new system, the DC system, would transform the electricity current into a smaller current and at the same time charge a battery that would function when an electricity disruption occurred.
"The battery can last from eight to 10 hours. We are trying to make the traffic lights less dependent on the electricity supply from PLN."
He said the agency had installed the system at two spots: the intersection in Sarinah, Central Jakarta, and the intersection of Jl. Sugiono and Jl Swadaya. Next year, the agency will install the system in 40 prioritized intersections.
Tauchid said the agency had tried to use another system, Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) system, for traffic lights in 50 locations, but the equipment had been vandalized.
"The system is not functioning anymore because the storage batteries have been stolen."
Another system that came into consideration, he said, was a solar cell system, which had been piloted outside the city. He said the system was not suitable for the city as it required a wide space.
Tauchid said the DC system project would start after the agency finished fixing the damaged traffic light.
"The lights were affected by various things, including damage in the underground cable, which connects the poles, controller machine, the electricity supply or combination of the problems."
He said the agency was currently in the process of fixing 30 traffic lights from the total of 425 traffic lights. The project took Rp 20 billion from the city budget.
"We hope to finish it by the end of this year," Tauchid said.
Of the 425 traffic lights, 317 are located in intersections, 36 in pedestrian cross and 72 are blinking lights.
The police are also paying more attention to the city's busy intersections. The Traffic Police division was currently installing online cameras in 50 busy intersections to monitor violations on traffic rules.
"This camera project is part of our effort to build an online traffic system like what has been done by developed countries," head of the division Sr. Comr. Condro Kirono said over the weekend as quoted by local daily newspaper Warta Kota.
He said officers at the Traffic Management Center in the city police would monitor the cameras, which recorded traffic violators.
They would detect the violators through their vehicle registration documents and then send a warning letter to the address.
Condro said the police had installed four hidden cameras in the intersection at Sarinah department store on Jl. M. H. Thamrin, which has been chosen as the pilot project.
He said the camera installation in Sarinah still aimed to familiarize the road users with the new tools.
Condro said he was still coordinating with related institutions like the prosecutor's office and the court to apply the law enforcement.
