The Jakarta Transportation Agency lacks a centralized traffic control system to automatically detect malfunctioning or broken down traffic lights, which often exacerbate Jakarta’s chronic traffic jams.
The agency’s head of traffic management, M. Akbar, said traffic lights at every junction have their own controllers, which are programmed manually to time the lights according to the flow of traffic during different times of the day.
“We used to operate an integrated control center that managed all the city’s traffic lights in 1975,
1992 and the last time was two to three years ago before the communication network malfunctioned and we ran out of funds to fix it,” he told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
Without a system to monitor traffic lights, Akbar added it is impossible to automatically detect malfunctioning or blacked-out traffic lights, which are usually caused by power failure.
He said the lack of an integrated system also means the controller at each junction cannot transfer information to one and another.
Therefore, the coordination of traffic lights between junctions is done by trial and error.
The administration’s official news portal beritajakarta.com reported that the number of vehicles is expected to increase at a rate of 9 percent each year but roads only at 0.01 percent per year.
The website also said there are currently 6.5 million vehicles registered in the city in 2010.
The massive growth means effective traffic light systems are greatly needed. Yet the agency’s budget cannot afford all the necessary upgrades.
Akbar said this year’s allocation for traffic light management is roughly Rp 4 billion (US$440,000) partly spent on maintaining the 312 traffic light junctions, 62 flashing light, 28 pedestrian lights and 220 countdown timers.
The agency plans to add to the number of countdown timers, which cost around Rp 15 million each, he said.
With limitations in the traffic light management system, the agency has to cooperate with traffic police.
The Jakarta Police’s head of road infrastructure subdivision, Comr. Triwidya Ningsih, said a minimum of four officers are deployed to roads and junctions prone to congestion.
She said officers themselves are actually not permitted to override traffic lights by signaling drivers to start and stop unless “the traffic conditions are impossible”.
One road user, Kurniawan, said traffic lights were necessary and effective in managing the city’s traffic.
Yet, obeying the rules goes back to road users themselves as a whole.
“I’ve run red lights before. One time, the light on my side of the road was already red. But because many couldn’t move when the light turned green, due to congestion up ahead, the car behind me honked loudly so I had to move forward,” said Kurniawan. (gzl)
