And just like that, the idea hit me.

Actually, it was a big, fancy, new white Toyota Alphard going recklessly fast on a small neighborhood street in Kemang, South Jakarta, on a recent morning. The impact was hard enough to break the car’s mirror, but luckily as a big former football player I had the size to withstand the blow to my shoulder and arm.

The pain is severe, but luckily, I escaped without any broken bones and hopefully no serious soft tissue injuries emerge as the bruise and swelling subsides. However, had it been my 10-year-old daughter (much shorter than me), the blow would have struck her in the head and likely could have been life-threatening.

In sad irony, this incident occurred during Indonesia’s Bulan K3 (National Safety month). This incident does not stand alone in this regard, as work-related accidents in Indonesia increased to 370,747 in 2023 from 298,137 in 2022, mainly due to a lack of attention to safety measures, according to the Manpower Ministry. Accident totals went from 356,383 between January and October 2024, according to Manpower Minister Yassierli in his remarks during a National Work Safety Month event on Jan. 14.

As a resident and regular pedestrian in Jakarta for two decades, I share these suggestions as a few practical, simple and not outrageously expensive steps toward improving quality of life, health and safety; not as a casual tourist sharing a bad experience for the sake of complaining.

As the new Jakarta governor takes office, he and his team face a broad array of daunting challenges. And by no means can I offer a panacea for all these problems. And as much as looking up above for divine inspiration could help, perhaps also looking down to our own two feet may offer some help.

In addition, while the years of American football helped allow me to withstand the accident, years of the violent sport have taken a toll on my body. In the past three years, I have had an artificial knee replacement (my seventh knee surgery) and a double-lumbar fusion back surgery.

Recovery from these procedures required the use of wheelchairs, crutches and canes for the bulk of the past three years. Navigating buildings is a challenge for those with mobility restrictions in Indonesia, to say nothing of getting between them. Improved sidewalks could help those most challenged in movement to get around more safely.

In a city that doubles in population during the day with commuters from outlying areas with more than a decade of double-digit sales growth in motor vehicles and low single-digit growth in road development, resolving Jakarta’s notorious macet (traffic jam) will take major projects, much money and a long time to solve a problem that did not develop overnight.

And while I wish the driver who hit me had at least taken the time to stop and see if I needed medical assistance, the epidemic of road rage and aggressive driving is a symptom of these conditions.

A widespread sidewalk, covered foot bridges and other pedestrian project initiatives across the city would provide people opportunities to get away from the hazards of sharing the streets with cars and motorbikes while walking, improving safety of alternative options for transportation. The construction of such projects is not technically complicated or exorbitantly expensive.

More broadly, every Sunday morning on Jl. Jendral Sudirman is a clear indicator of the desperation of the city’s residents to find safe places to walk, jog, run and exercise. The conversion of idle government facilities and land similar to what has been created at Gelora Bung Karno sports complex would provide opportunities for people to be more active and healthy. A simple review of BPJS spending would suggest reductions in healthcare spending are critical, especially as Indonesia’s demographic dividend of young people move into their later years.

Lastly, outdoor exercise is fun, affordable and easy to facilitate. However, breathing in heavily polluted air compromises those benefits. An overall air quality solution will be complex, costly and take time. But an enforcement of the existing regulations against trash burning would be an easy quick win, at least in addressing more localized air quality.

As proven by the implementation of the odd/even scheme on major roads, enforcement of simple policies is possible. And the history of smoke signals as among the first forms of distant communications means finding violators will be easy.

Making Jakarta a better place for all of us to live and work will not be an easy task, and I praise the governor and his team for taking on this important duty. I do indeed wish them the best of luck and hope these suggestions may prove useful toward making every month a safer month in Indonesia, whether getting to work, at work or trying to enjoy the times when doing neither of those.

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The author is the chair of the Board of Governors of the American Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia, a member of the Board of Trustees for The American Indonesian Exchange Foundation (AMINEF), the binational Fulbright Commission for Indonesia and co-chair of Overseas Security Advisory Council for Indonesia. The views expressed are his own.