Out & About: Does stop mean go in the reckless streets of Jakarta?

“I’m colorblind, I know that, but it seems like there are thousands more like me in Jakarta.” These are the words of a friend who was expressing his contempt, or perhaps his shock at what had just happened to him at a busy intersection. Essentially, a vehicle shot past him at a speed that was, well, frightening.

It was frightening because he was appropriately driving through the intersection having seen the traffic lights change from red to green.

The car that shot past him, forcing him to brake suddenly, had run the red light that it was supposed to stop at. Had he been two or three meters further forward into the intersection an ugly crash would have happened.

But sadly something like this does not seem to be all that unusual on the chaotic streets of Jakarta. Red lights are so often ignored that it is wise to exercise extra caution when at traffic lights.

The fact that the lights are telling you green to go does not always mean that others at the junction are accepting red for stop.

There is petulance and ill-discipline to this that is simultaneously offensive and potentially dangerous. Each year hundreds of people die on the roads of Jakarta.

One estimate suggested that on average as many as three people die on the city’s roads every day. There is little doubt then that the roads are killers.

But many of these deaths could be avoided. People driving wildly and recklessly are nothing short of criminals and potentially violent criminals.

Some might say that is too harsh; that there is no intent, but negligence that leads to unnecessary harm, damage and even death cannot be criticized severely enough.

Criticism, action and punishment should hound idiotic driving and careless drivers. A laissez-faire attitude of “oh, that is just the way people drive here, nothing can be done” should be ruled out as offensive and wrong. Something can be done and driving idiocy can be, if not eliminated, isolated as the socially offensive and irresponsible act.

A car is a wonderful thing that allows us a freedom of movement that is both liberating and a joy but a car is also a potentially highly dangerous object and in the hands of the irresponsible it becomes just that.

Too often in Jakarta people don’t concentrate on their driving and are distracted by too many other things that mean that they become a hazard on the roads.

It is common to see people talking on mobile phones, busy talking away holding their phone to their ear meaning that they cannot be in full control of their vehicle.

They can’t give a signal because they have only one hand with which to steer the car. If an emergency maneuver became necessary, forget it! Evasive action would be impossible because they would not be able to turn the steering wheel with enough speed and power.

In many countries the use of cell phones when driving is outlawed because it hinder a driver’s ability to be in full, and so safe, control of the vehicle.

Hands-free units for mobile phones are available so if a driver really has to take that call, he or she can but still be able to drive with some degree of control.

Control and discipline are key words. Drivers need to be in control and they should have sufficient self-discipline to know what is wrong and what is right — to know what is good and safe driving and what is stupid and dangerous driving.

Yielding and giving way for traffic that has the right of way is simple and right. Stopping when you are supposed to is right too.

Idiotic drivers will gamble with lights. Motorcyclists are prone to do this — looking around and choosing to go when the light is still red but scampering through the junction while no one is around and no one is looking.

This is a risk but it is an unnecessary risk. Misjudge that risk and there can be a high price to pay. If that price is injury or death to an innocent victim of reckless driving the price is far too high.

Roads are dangerous places, that is a fact, but they become far more dangerous when people just don’t seem to care and don’t seem to pay attention to the dangers and the hazards they can cause through thoughtlessness.

Hundreds of deaths each year are too high a price to pay for laziness and ignorance.

— Simon Marcus Gower

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