Caught in 60 seconds: Police say new traffic cameras in Jakarta snapped motorists at a rate of at least 100 per minute

Jakarta’s ETLE (Electronic Traffic Law Enforcement) traffic cameras got a software upgrade this week, broadening the scope of traffic violations they can capture to include the likes of drivers not wearing their seatbelts and using their phones while driving, among others.

RELATED: Jakarta’s traffic cameras get new update, can now catch drivers who don’t wear seatbelt or use phone while driving

And boy, have they been effective at bringing to light just how common delinquent drivers are in the capital.

“We recorded in one minute from one CCTV camera 100 drivers who weren’t buckled up. If we break it down to every five seconds, the number could be in the dozens,” Jakarta Traffic Police Commissioner Arif Fazlurrahman said, as quoted by Liputan 6.

And that number only covers one type of traffic violation, so the total number of violations per minute could actually be much higher. However, the police have not yet released comprehensive official data about traffic violations following the ELTE cameras upgrade.

Along with the software update, ETLE cameras have now been placed in the following 10 locations:

• MRT Bundaran Senayan pedestrian overpass
• MRT Polda Semanggi pedestrian overpass
• Pedestrian overpass in front of the Ministry of Tourism
• MRT pedestrian overpass near the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform
• Sudirman-Thamrin flyover
• Thamrin-Sudirman flyover
• Patung Kuda intersection
• Sarinah intersection on the Bawaslu office side
• Sarinah intersection on the Starbucks side
• Plaza Gajah Mada pedestrian overpass

A relatively new technology for Jakarta, ETLE allows police to utilize the cameras to catch and review traffic violations. If the police decide there has been a violation, they will send a traffic ticket to the motorist’s address by mail and/or email. The motorist will then have one week to pay their fine via a partner bank. Failure to do so would result in their vehicle registration being frozen, meaning the motorist couldn’t pay their annual vehicle tax until they paid their fine.

The system is seen as one of the solutions for the widespread problem of traffic police asking for bribes from offending motorists in lieu of tickets (bribes can even come in the form of durian), but ETLE is so far only enforced along one stretch of Jakarta road — not enough to make any meaningful difference.