The Deadly Accident Of Vanessa And UGM Lecturers, Should The Directorate Of Land Transportation Safety Reactivate?

Vanessa Angel accident (Source: Special)

JAKARTA - Two traffic accidents on toll roads on Thursday, November 4 have attracted public attention. On Thursday morning, there was an accident on the Cipali Toll Road KM 113 which killed UGM lecturer I Gede Suparta Budisatria. Then, in the afternoon, another accident killed actress Vanessa Angel and her husband on the Jombang KM 672 toll road section.

Regarding this incident, the Head of the Advocacy and Community Affairs Division of the Indonesian Transportation Society (MTI) Djoko Setijowarno considered that the government was still not serious in dealing with transportation safety.

Therefore, he urged the government to reactivate the Land Transportation Safety Directorate which was removed after the organizational restructuring under the Ministry of Transportation (Kemenhub).

"The government needs to reactivate the Land Transportation Safety Directorate, which was abolished at the Ministry of Transportation since two years ago. The abolition of the Directorate has an impact on the lack of programs and budgets for safety in the land transportation sector," said Djoko in his statement, Saturday, November 6.

Djoko said that the number of traffic accidents has never dropped drastically so far. Based on data from the Traffic Corps of the State Police of the Republic of Indonesia (Korlantas), within 1 hour, 1-3 people die from traffic accidents in Indonesia.

Within a day, about 80 people died instantly on the highway. Most victims are motorcycle cyclists with a proportion of around 75 percent. Not to mention the addition of a number of victims due to traffic accidents who suffered serious injuries and led to death as well.

"A total of 120 people die every day due to traffic accidents on the highway," said Djoko.

Currently, said Djoko, who manages the land transportation safety program under the Directorate of Land Transportation Facilities. It is certain, he said, that the budget for safety must be small, not commensurate with the responsibility to fix the safety of land transportation throughout Indonesia.

Meanwhile, the rail, water and air transportation sectors still have a Directorate of Safety in their respective Directorate Generals. "However, considering the urgent and important needs, there is no harm in adding a new directorate," he concluded.