50% of Jakarta Public Transport Drivers Don’t Have Licenses
October 9, 2013 Leave a comment
50% of Jakarta Public Transport Drivers Don’t Have Licenses
By Suara Pembaruan on 4:46 pm October 8, 2013.
Category Law & Order, News
Almost half of Jakarta’s 28,000 public transport drivers are either not in possession of a motor vehicle license or are too young to be behind the wheel, according to an official with the city’s transportation council. “Around 50 percent of public transport drivers in Jakarta don’t have a driver’s license,” Azas Tigor Nainggolan, chairman of Jakarta Transportation Council told BeritaSatu on Tuesday. “Our field observations show that, mainly at night, many of the drivers are in fact minors. Sometimes, they’re even driving drunk.”Azis said that drivers without licenses should receive strict sanctions.
“I want the police to conduct large-scale raids on public transportation vehicles to determine who doesn’t have a license and who is a minor,” he said. “This cannot be ignored — they endanger the passengers as well as other commuters.”
Azis also demanded that the Jakarta Transportation Agency freeze public-transportation permits and confiscate the vehicles of those found in violation.
Jakarta Transportation Agency head Udar Pristono confirmed that many of Jakarta’s public transport drivers don’t have licenses, but said that officials with his agency are continuing the crackdown on the practice.
Udar said, however, that conducting raids would not be effective and that the only way to stop the problem is for bus and angkot owners to cooperate and only hire qualified drivers. The agency, he continued, cannot monitor all modes of public transportation.
“Monitoring should be begin with the vehicle owner,” Udar said. “They know who their drivers are. They agency can only conduct raids, and both methods of monitoring should be down simultaneously.”
Udar said that many public transport vehicles had been confiscated for violating various regulations.
“When we took strict actions, they rallied against us,” Udar said. “But strict sanctions will be imposed on drivers who violate the regulation and endanger other people.”
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