In addition to the general sense of lawlessness on Indonesia’s roads, drivers have to be extra vigilant of children in case they wander into the road. It’s distressingly common to see parents walking with their children right besides traffic, or, worse yet, children playing and walking around moving vehicles with no parental supervision whatsoever.
Authorities believe the latter to contributed to the death of a 4-year-old named Cantika in Pulogadung, East Jakarta, last night. According to reports, Cantika was crossing the road in front of her house unaccompanied when she was hit by a passing car.
“DRT was driving from east to west on Jalan Palad. When driving through the Palad Housing Complex, the car hit the child who suddenly crossed the road,” said AKP Agus, head of the Traffic Accidents Unit at the East Jakarta Police, as quoted by Detik.
DRT then brought Cantika to a nearby hospital. Unfortunately, the small child succumbed to her head injuries soon after.
The police say the have brought DRT in for questioning. If convicted of vehicular manslaughter, DRT could face up to 6 years in prison.
At the same time, the police say they are also going to question Cantika’s parents to find out why they let their young daughter cross the road alone.
“I implore parents to be more careful,” Agus said.
It’s not clear what charges, if any, Cantika’s parents would receive for her death. Parental neglect leading to a child’s accidental death is not explicitly covered in Law no. 22/2003 on Child Protection.
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