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E-ticketing: Jakarta police to watch all vehicles beginning February
Motorcyclists will have to be more careful, as the Jakarta Police are going to enforce the electronic traffic law enforcement (ETLE) system across Jakarta for all vehicles beginning February
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span>Motorcyclists will have to be more careful, as the Jakarta Police are going to enforce the electronic traffic law enforcement (ETLE) system across Jakarta for all vehicles beginning February.
While initially only monitoring cars, the police will enhance ETLE coverage across Jl. Sudirman and Jl. MH Thamrin in Central Jakarta by installing 57 surveillance cameras in a bid to reduce traffic violations committed by motorcycle riders.
In addition, they are also integrating surveillance cameras installed at TransJakarta bus shelters and buses into the ETLE coverage.
The surveillance cameras will not only record traffic violations such as driving through a red traffic light, reckless driving and using busway lanes, but also riding a motorcycle without a helmet.
Traffic police law enforcement head Sr. Adj. Comr. Fahri Siregar said the police would introduce the expanded ETLE system during the first week of February, as quoted by kompas.com.
“After one week, we will fully enforce [the ETLE system]. Motorcycle riders who are not wearing helmets will be ticketed, in addition to other traffic violations,” he added.
The new ETLE policy has garnered a positive reception from motorcycle riders. Hendra Setiawan, a 30-year-old ojol (app-based motorcycle taxi) driver who frequently rides through Jl. Sudirman, said the new system would reduce rampant traffic violations along the street.
In addition, he hoped it would promote a safer traffic environment on Jl. Sudirman and Jl. MH Thamrin.
“With more surveillance cameras and area coverage, I believe the system can also influence motorcycle riders in many other areas across Jakarta,” he told The Jakarta Post.
However, the new ETLE system was met with criticism from other motorists.
Another ojol driver, Reza Nur Baehaqqi, 25, said the biggest issue was the quality of the surveillance cameras, as he feared it would lead to false ticketing, instead of catching violators.
Since the police only rely on the camera image, he said they might not be able to accurately identify the violator or the motorcycle, or even the violation.
The worst possible scenario would be someone being wrongly ticketed, he added.
“It could be that the person who receives the ticket does not know what violation they committed even though they ride safely, or that the ticket they receive is actually meant for someone else in the case of forged license plates,” Reza said.
The Jakarta Police first implemented the ETLE system in November 2018 by deploying 12 surveillance cameras across Jl. Sudirman and Jl. MH Thamrin. During its first week, the police ticketed 62 traffic violators, mainly car drivers.
In 2019, the police’s traffic unit sent 22,898 notification letters to traffic violators. Of those, 13,728 letters were for traffic violations recorded by ETLE surveillance cameras.
Meanwhile, 9,362 traffic violators recorded by the surveillance cameras had their vehicle registration certificate (STNK) blocked by the traffic unit for failing to pay the fine.
The system has been praised as it has enforced road safety among road users. It has also streamlined the ticketing process, which in the past often benefited calo (scalpers), whom violators could pay to get them out of the court process.
However, the ETLE system has also been plagued with technical issues and loopholes that could potentially disrupt its intended purposes.
On July 26, Radityo Utomo tweeted on his Twitter account @rdtyou that the camera caught a motorcyclist with a forged a license plate that matched his car’s license plate, which caused him to be ticketed.
Sobirin from Tangerang, Banten, was ticketed for not wearing a seatbelt twice on July 10 and July 21, by the ETLE surveillance camera.
However, he did not receive any notification letter and found out his STNK had been blocked when extending the certificate at the Tangerang Vehicle Document Registration Center (Samsat) in Cikokol, Tangerang on Aug. 23, 2019. (hpw)
