On one of the posts, uploaded by Instagram account @jktinfo, which reposted the video recorded by @imam_mirhan, the caption reads, “On Monday, a police officer was seen holding onto the windshield of a car in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta.”

The incident occurred on Sept. 16 at around 2:30 p.m. during an operation on Jl. Pasar Minggu Raya for which Eka and several officers of the South Jakarta Transportation Agency were deployed.

The video shows a glimpse of the struggle faced by the city’s traffic corps, which commemorated its 64th anniversary on Sunday.

For many road users, traffic police officers are a bugbear they would rather avoid, regardless of whether they have violated any traffic rules or whether all their license and vehicle documents are on hand.

Regular motorcyclist Galang Ari said he was used to playing cat and mouse with traffic police officers even though he said he did not intentionally violate any road rules.

“I think most motorcyclists do,” he said on Sunday.

While some violations are easily avoided, such as not wearing a helmet or using a mobile phone while riding, Galang said traffic police kept an eagle eye out for certain violations, such as expired license plate numbers.

“If that’s the case, to avoid getting caught, motorcyclists need to look out for odd signs on the road [that may indicate an operation is underway]. The last resort is to turn around and drive against the traffic,” the 25-year-old said.

He admitted he had dodged potential tickets from officers several times. The latest incident was around six months ago when he had not yet extended his vehicle’s registration — the expiration month and year are shown on his license plate.

“My ultimate strategy is to act innocent and calm. I ride my motorcycle close to a car to make sure the officers do not notice my license plate. Right when I get close to them, I accelerate to pass by quickly,” he said, giggling.

Separately, Jakarta Police traffic officer Sohirin said he was used to seeing the odd behavior of road users as they tried to avoid him and his fellow officers, be it during an operation or on any other day he was just overseeing traffic.

Throughout his 34 year career as a traffic police officer, Sohirin said the most common mistakes made by road users, especially motorcyclists, were driving against the traffic and passing through red lights.

“These are classic bad habits that people can’t seem to stop doing. They should know that the rules were made for their own safety, not for the officers’ interests,” he said.

During traffic operation Operasi Patuh Jaya held from Aug. 29 to Sept. 11, the Jakarta Police traffic unit recorded 167,928 road violations, with 114,673 people ticketed while the remaining 53,255 were only reprimanded.

Of those ticketed, 84,750 were motorcyclists, while 29,923 were motorists.

Sohirin’s fellow officer, Aban, said the number of motorcyclists ticketed could be higher than motorists because their violations were more noticeable. However, he said the excuses they gave when caught tended to be similar.

“Most of them say they are in a rush or that they didn’t know [about certain rules],” he said.

In response to the viral video of their colleague, both Sohirin and Aban said such incidents were not supposed to happen.

“Say a violation was actually committed by the motorist, an officer should always take into consideration both his own and the road user’s safety,” Sohirin said.

“I think it was a spontaneous act that, unfortunately, came with a high risk,” Aban said.

Both called on their fellow officers to always be careful while on duty and for road users to maintain road orderliness at all times, not only when police officers were around.

“We are happiest when the road is crowded and everyone is following the rules. We tend to become sleepy if the road is quiet,” Sohirin said.

When he accidentally makes a mistake on the road, motorist Andito likes to play his “new comer” card although he is no longer new to the city. He moved to Jakarta in 2014 and brought along his car from his hometown of Surakarta, Central Java.

“My car’s plate number begins with the letters AD, not B,” he said. AD is the code for vehicles from Surakarta, while B is for Greater Jakarta.

“If I’m caught accidentally violating a road rule, I say, ‘I’m sorry, sir, I’m new in this town so I didn’t know about that rule.’ This works most of the time,” he said, laughing.

He said he realized what he did was wrong, hence he claimed he always did his best to avoid violating any road rules.

Meanwhile, to commemorate its 64th anniversary, the traffic corps launched the Smart SIM driving license.

“Smart SIM is one of our IT-based innovations to improve our traffic operations,” National Police Traffic Corps chief Insp. Gen. Refdi Andri said as quoted by kompas.com.

To obtain a Smart SIM, one needs to fill in a registration form on sim.korlantas.polri.go.id and pay a fee. The rest of the procedure is similar to the steps for extending a regular driver’s license.

“I’m not suggesting everyone switch from a regular SIM to the Smart SIM. We will not process requests from SIM holders who are still far from their expiration dates,” Refdi said.

Compared to a regular license, the Smart SIM has a chip that can store data about the holder’s traffic violation and accident history. In addition, the card can also be used for electronic money transactions.

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