Jakarta has become increasingly unfriendly toward pedestrians and cyclists and even more toward the young, many of whom are not allowed by their parents to travel home from school alone.

Haikal Ramadhan, 9, said one of his friends had been injured in the head and leg when he was hit by a motorcycle while walking home and talking with a friend.

Rakan Yusra, 10, said he was almost grazed by a motorcycle when he and some friends were walking in the middle of the road in front of their school. They were also talking while walking.

For junior road users in Jakarta, it seems, street smartness is a must to survive the traffic jungle. They have to be extra cautious and alert all the time and there seems to be no room for children to walk leisurely while talking.

Nurlaila, a teacher at SD Bendungan Hilir 12 state elementary school in Central Jakarta, said on Tuesday that her students went to and from school by different modes '€” by ojek (motorcycle taxi), by private car and by foot.

'€œOnly a few of them live nearby and they come to school by foot,'€ she added.

Agung, a father who drives his son to the Bendungan Hilir school by motorcycle every day, said he had told his son to always wear a helmet, a jacket and two pairs of pants to protect himself.

Agung said that as his home was far from the school, he did not allow his son to walk there.

'€œThe traffic here is very dangerous because a lot of drivers do not abide by traffic regulations,'€ he said, adding that he did not allow his 12-year-old son to take public transportation because he was too young to deal with the unpredictable traffic.

The chaotic traffic of Jakarta has made many drivers impatient toward slower users like pedestrians and they often do not slow down to let pedestrians cross the street. Many motorcyclists also trespass on sidewalks and sometimes hit or graze pedestrians using them.

At least 200 students and teachers from five state elementary schools participated in a road safety campaign in SD Bendungan Hilir 12 on Monday.

At the campaign, they learned the meaning of traffic signs and participated in a simulation guided by their teachers and volunteers, so that they could use roads wisely and avoid accidents.

According to the Jakarta Police, of the 7,340 victims of 2014'€™s road accidents in Greater Jakarta, 1,679 or 22.87 percent were aged between 1 and 20 years.

During the campaign, students learned about regulations by observing mock-up signs made of Styrofoam and building blocks. At the simulation zone, they walked on pavements, crossed roads and rode bicycles in accordance
with the law.

During the campaign, volunteers gave away 200 motorcycle helmets to the students in the hope that they would use them when riding on the back of a motorcycle.

'€œOnly some of the students wear helmets when they come by motorcycle,'€ Nurlaila said.

Another parent of a SD Bendungan Hilir 12 student, Rey Hakin, said he would make sure that his children wore helmets while riding a motorcycle, but he admitted to violating some traffic regulations.

He, for example, put his two children '€” a high school student and an elementary school student '€” together on the back of his motorcycle every day and drove from Kelapa Dua in West Jakarta to school even though he was aware that motorcycles were designed for a maximum of two riders.

'€œI take my two children together for practical reasons,'€ he said.

The campaign, organized by the Indonesian Junior Achievement (PJI) in cooperation with AIG Insurance Indonesia, was held in the hope that participating students would be more careful in using roads and pass the messages they got from the campaign on to their family and friends, said AIG chief executive officer Jon Paul Jones. (rbk/prm)

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