MTI: Traffic Accident Rate In 2023 Increases 6.8 Percent, Dominated By Motorcycles

Illustration of the accident. (Pixabay)

AKARTA - The Indonesian Transportation Society (MTI) stated that the number of traffic accidents (traffic) in Indonesia throughout 2023 reached 116 thousand cases, or an increase of 6.8 percent compared to last year.

"Compared to 2022 for accidents this year, it rose 6.8 percent and from 6.8 percent of this, it turned out to be successful with the acceleration of good handling, this caused the fatality to fall by almost 6.5 percent," said Deputy Chairperson of the Transportation Safety Division of MTI Rivan A. Purwantoro at a press conference at the Jakarta-Bandung Fast Train Station (KCJB) Halim, Jakarta on Wednesday, December 27, confiscated by Antara.

He explained that the decline in the fatality rate was 6.5 percent due to the improvement in the handling of victims after the accident, especially during the "golden period", which was the first 30 minutes after the incident which became crucial time in handling victims.

In terms of vehicle type, Rivan explained 77 percent of the total accident cases experienced by motorcycles. Meanwhile, for the victim's age, it is dominated by road users at the productive age, namely 25 to 40 years with a percentage of almost 40 percent.

"The average cause is face-to-face collisions. So 45,000 (cases) out of 116,000 are front collisions. So this is important because this is negligence, then against the current," he said.

Rivan said East Java was the province with the highest number of traffic accidents throughout 2023, with as many as 25,000 cases followed by Central Java as many as 23,000 cases and West Java as many as 10,700 cases.

According to him, the high number of traffic accidents in East Java was due to the high distribution of vehicles, which was around 19 million units.

Furthermore, Rivan explained that there are two provinces with the most significant increase in traffic accidents, namely in the Provinces of Bali and East Kalimantan.

"The provinces that have experienced an increase are in Bali. Bali is almost double the accident last year, East Kalimantan has increased by 24 percent," he said.

Therefore, Rivan assesses that improvements in handling or anticipation of accidents are necessary, especially in developing areas.

Meanwhile, provinces that have succeeded in reducing the rate of traffic accidents are the Special Region of Yogyakarta (DIY), which is currently down 15 percent and it is estimated that the number of cases will continue to fall to 17 percent.

"The highest decline is DIY, DIY according to the prognosis will decrease by 17 percent. To this day, it has decreased by 15 percent, meaning it is very good," said Rivan.