Underage children driving motorcycles is way too common of a sight in Indonesia, with most of the blame often pointed at irresponsible parenting and lax law enforcement.
But police don’t always completely turn a blind eye to underage driving. Recently, a video went viral showing a cop stopping four kids riding on a single motorcycle in Pematangsiantar, North Sumatra, after the kids made the mistake of driving in front of a police station.
Based on their school uniforms, three of the little kids still go to elementary school while the largest one goes to middle school. Not only were they underage (and thus could not possibly have motorcycle licenses), none of them were wearing helmets either.
It’s not known what happened to the kids after the video, but child drivers often go unpunished as the law is limited in how it can punish juvenile crimes (this is perhaps best illustrated by the case of popstar-turned-politician Ahmad Dhani’s son, who illegally drove a car when he was just 13 and killed 7 people in a horrific accident but went completely unpunished, as did his father who gave him the sports car he was driving).
Two years ago, a woman started an online petition to jail parents who let their underage children drive, after a kid on a motorcycle killed a 3-year-old boy in an accident. Though the petition has garnered a great deal of support, no such law has been passed.
