Don't Take The Contraflow Line If Your Physical Condition Is Not Prima

A number of vehicles drove on the Inner City Toll Road when contraflow was applied or against the flow in the Semanggi area, Jakarta, Thursday (22/2/2024). (Between/Galih Pradipta/aww (Between/Galih Pradipta)

JAKARTA The moment of Eid Al-Fitr 2024 homecoming is again marked by sad news. On Monday (8/4/2024), a fatal accident occurred on the Jakarta-Cikampek Km58 Toll Road, Karawang, West Java, at 07/04 WIB.

The accident involved three vehicles, namely Daihatsu Gran Max, Daihatsu Terios, and a bus. Quoted by Kompas, this incident resulted in 12 deaths, one person suffered serious injuries, and another victim was slightly injured.

The accident began when Gran Max's car with police number B1635 BKT drove from Jakarta to Cikampek via the Jakarta-Cikampek Km 58 toll road contraflow lane. However, Gran Max's car allegedly had problems so that it crossed the opposite lane from Cikampek to Jakarta.

When crossing the opposite lane, Gran Max hit the PO Primajasa bus. After an accident broke out between Gran Max and the bus, an Terios car that tried to avoid it actually hit a car that had previously hit the bus. Two cars caught fire, while the bus was badly damaged on the front and a road divider around the scene of the supporting case.

Regarding the exact cause why Gran Max's car was desperate to cross the opposite lane on the toll road, it might always be a mystery, because both the driver and all the passengers in the car died.

But apart from the problem with cars, there is also the possibility that the driver is tired and sleepy. This allegation was revealed by the Director General of Land Transportation of the Ministry of Transportation, Hendro Sugiatno.

"We are also concerned about this accident that caused casualties. Currently, the Directorate General of Hubdat has coordinated with the police to continue to carry out in-depth investigations related to the accident. However, it is suspected that there was a fatigue factor for the Daihatsu Grandmax driver so that the car went to the route leading to Jakarta," said Hendro in an official statement. written, April 8, 2024.

Citing the Ministry of Health's page, excessive fatigue can cause a person to experience sleep. In general, this symptom is followed by scathing eyes, slowing eyes, nodded heads, and the body feels shaking.

Microsleep also often occurs as a result of lack of sleep. In some cases, microrossleep is also experienced by those who do monotonous tang work, although only for a few seconds. This condition is certainly very dangerous and may be one of the main causes of the accident.

"Microsleep is a very short sleep period caused by extreme fatigue. Unlike sleep in general, sleep makes a person lose consciousness or attention due to fatigue or sleepiness," explained the explanation on the Ministry of Health website.

Microsleep cannot be treated, but this can be prevented in several ways. One of them is taking a good break and repairing bedtime before driving, let alone taking a tiring long journey. Drivers are also advised not to force driving in a tired or sick condition.

A study revealed, by resting and sleeping for a moment for 10 minutes or more can unravel the risk of an accident caused by fatigue.

Another step that can be used is to rest every four hours of driving. This is even regulated in Law Number 22 of 2009 concerning Road Traffic and Transportation. At 90 paragraph (3), motorized vehicle drivers are required to rest for half an hour after driving for four consecutive hours.

In addition to the driver factor, the contraflow policy on the homecoming route has also returned to the spotlight. Quoted from Antara, contraflow is an engineering system or traffic regulation that is carried out by changing part of the direction of the traffic flow of vehicles on the road which is experiencing traffic jams. This traffic engineering is usually applied when the flow is homecoming or back.

On the one hand, the contraflow mechanism is used as a way to unravel congestion in the middle of homecoming. Traffic engineering in the form of contraflow is actually applied not only during homecoming, but on a number of roads with high volume of vehicles. One area that always applies contraflow is the Tangerang-Jakarta toll road. This is done to unravel congestion that usually occurs in the morning.

However, contraflow is considered very dangerous by the Training Director and founder of Jakarta Defensive Driving Consulting (JDDC) Jusri Pulubuhu.

"I always advise not to choose the contraflow route when you still have other (paths) options," said Jusri, quoted by Antara.

"This seems like a deadly lane, on the left side there is a wall, while on the right side there is another vehicle from the opposite current. It is often found that when you are caught off guard just a little, it is very possible to get out of the entrance to the opponent's lane, resulting in successive collisions due to motor distraction," he said.

For this reason, in addition to the excellent condition of the car, it is also necessary to be physically healthy and mentally qualified from the driver before traveling long distances, especially if forced to pass through the contraflows lane so that unwanted things do not occur.