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here’s a new trend among motorists in Jakarta lately. That is putting on sirens, strobe lights or rotator light bars on cars to make way in the heavily congested streets of the capital.

A motorist, Naufal Fadhil, often hears sirens from a layperson’s vehicle, sometimes also equipped with strobe lights, on his daily commute, but he knows there is no emergency situation.

“The sounds and lights are annoying and I think the drivers are very arrogant,” said the 23-year-old medical student.

“Over time, I began to always ignore [the sirens], especially when I notice the car’s plate is not red,” he said.

In Indonesia, red vehicle plates indicate official government vehicles, including ambulances, fire engines and police vehicles.

In a recent road rage incident that went viral on social media, a car driver in Cibinong, West Java, was “arrogantly using a siren and strobe lights to force motorcycle drivers to pull over,” said Facebook user Raka Fadliansyah, who is also one of the motorcycle drivers being forced to pull over. Raka, tried to reprimand him, but the driver yelled and spat at him.

The story has drawn public outrage over the abuse of sirens, strobe lights and rotator light bars, which are only supposed to be used by ambulances, fire engines, police cars and state official vehicles.

Raka’s viral story is hardly the first case this year. In late September, six members of an automotive enthusiast community, Pajero Owner Community, used sirens and strobe lights on a convoy that ran against the flow of traffic on the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road.

After receiving many reports complaining about the abuse of sirens, strobe lights and rotator light bars, the Jakarta Police have decided to hold a joint operation with the Military Police and the Transportation agency to raid motorists who inappropriately use sirens, strobe lights or rotator light bars. The joint operation is being implemented for one month in Jakarta starting on Oct. 11.

“The operation could be stationary, where we stop passing cars that use the instruments, or a hunting operation,” said the head of the law enforcement division at the Jakarta Police Traffic Corps, Adj. Sr. Comr. Budiyanto, on Wednesday.

As of Thursday, the police had reportedly raided more than 30 vehicles throughout the capital.

Budiyanto explained that the use of sirens, strobe lights and rotator light bars are regulated under Law No. 22/2009 on traffic and land transportation. Under article 59 of the law, red, blue, and yellow lights are only for prioritized vehicles.

Red strobe lights and sirens are only for the fire brigade, ambulances, Red Cross rescue vehicles, prisoner transport vehicles, armed forces escorts and hearses, while blue lights and sirens are only for police vehicles.

Budiyanto said according to article 134 of the traffic law, the police can escort civilians and use blue strobe light and sirens in an emergency situation or “convoys that according to police assessment need to be guarded.”

He added the escort service can also be given to senior state officials or foreign dignitaries.

“The public can also submit proposals to the police if they want a police escort for their journey,” he said, adding the service was free.

Meanwhile, yellow strobe lights should not be used with sirens. The yellow lights are used for toll road patrols, vehicles for traffic monitoring and maintenance, towing vehicles and special freight transport.

Budiyanto said violators would be charged under articles 287, 59, 106 and 134 of the traffic law. He said violators could face a maximum of one month imprisonment or a Rp 250,000 (US$18.5) fine.

Motorist Yosephine Phytama, 24, said the fine was too low. “They should [also] confiscate the instruments and the cars,” she said.

She added if all cars had sirens she would not be able to differentiate between real emergency vehicles and layperson cars that use sirens.

The founder of Pajero Owner Community, Leo Galistan, said the community had banned the use of sirens and strobe lights for all its members, including for convoy purposes.

However, he added he could not forbid all 1,700 members of the community in Indonesia from installing the instruments because they were sold freely on the market. Motorist can install sirens and strobe lights at a cost of between Rp 600,000 and Rp 10 million. (dis)