Eid Al-Fitr Accident Rate In West Sumatra Rises, Causes Of Sleepy Driver Incident

The Directorate of Traffic (Ditlantas) of the West Sumatra Police (West Sumatra) recorded an increase in the number of accidents in the 2023 Eid current. Most of the incidents were caused by drivers falling asleep and tired.

Director of Traffic (Dirlantas) of the West Sumatra Police Kombes Pol Hilman Wijaya said the total number of accidents that occurred in this period was 68 incidents and indeed this number is more than 2022 as many as 63 incidents.

"The most accidents occurred in the Padang Police area with 20 accidents in those six days," Hilman said, quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday, April 26.

He said of the 68 accidents, a total of six people died and this number was less than last year's nine people.

Then for the victim suffered serious injuries, seven people and 111 people suffered minor injuries with a total material loss of Rp. 263,910,000.

Meanwhile, last year for the seriously injured victims, there were five people and 131 minor injuries and material losses reached Rp. 278,200,000.

In addition to being sleepy, he said that the cause of the accident was a driver who preceded or changed lanes in driving so that 19 times the cause of the accident.

Then there are drivers who do not prioritize pedestrians, causing eight accidents, driving beyond the speed limit, causing five incidents and two incidents due to not keeping a distance.

"We urge motorists to focus and be patient in driving so as to minimize accidents during traffic. The factors are impatient and want to overtake when the roads are empty so that they can cause accidents," he said.

In addition, his party issued 275 times of evidence of violations against traffic violators who did not use 201 helmets and 63 violations against traffic flow.

In 2022 in the same period, his party issued 174 fines for 85 violators not wearing helmets and 15 violators who went against the flow.

"Violations not wearing helmets and going against these currents are very dangerous because they can have fatal impacts in causing accidents," he said.