Minister Of Transportation Budi Karya: Accidental Deaths 4 People Per Hour

Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Transportation has highlighted the very high rate of traffic accidents in Indonesia. To reduce this figure, Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi assessed the need for synergy with all parties so that driving safety can be realized.

Budi Karya said that based on data from the National Police Traffic Corps in 2019, accidents involving all modes of land transportation caused an average of 3 to 4 people to die every hour of a day.

"We have to observe this carefully, because there were 29 thousand fatal accidents that resulted in death. That means 3 to 4 people die every hour due to traffic accidents," he said in a statement.

Synergy between Government and Operators in Creating Safe Transportation, Tuesday, April 20.

Furthermore, Budi also said that traffic accidents cannot be separated from the material losses they cause. In fact, the numbers are extraordinary. The majority of traffic accident victims are in the productive age population ranging from 15 to 64 years. Meanwhile, victims aged 0 to 14 were 12 percent and over 65 were 11 percent.

Based on 2018 data, said Budi, accidents involving motorized vehicles were recorded to dominate with a contribution of 72.4 percent. Then, the next highest accident rate is cars by 15 percent; trucks 8 percent; others 6.5 percent; bus 2 percent; and bicycles 1 percent.

In 2019, conditions are not much different. During that year, motorcycle accidents still dominated with 72 percent. However, there is a new phenomenon, namely an increase in accidents involving trucks with a rate of up to 12 percent.

"From the KNKT data, the high accidents are also due to public transport vehicles, both passenger and freight public transport. More often it is due to failure to brake when the road is downhill, winding, and there are many perforated brakes on straight roads," he said.

To prevent accidents, Minister of Transportation Budi Karya said that there is a need for cooperation from various parties, such as regulators, operators, drivers, and the community. He assessed that pre and post-ride handling is important so that the number of accidents that cause casualties can be reduced.

Furthermore, Budi said that even though the COVID-19 pandemic has changed this aspect of life, transportation operators still guarantee the safety of passengers to prevent accidents.

"It is better because we limit the number, the public's desire to move is lower, of course the operator is economically depressed. So, how in such circumstances safety is still carried out," he explained.