You may remember that the Jakarta Metro Police last month set about curbing illegal street racing in the city by essentially making it legal. The idea is to give kids, who are going to street race no matter what, the facilities to do so without hurting themselves, and more importantly, others.
Well, bad news for those who live in Kemayoran. Your nights may soon be filled with the noise of thunderous motorcycle engines.
The Jakarta Metro Police and the Indonesian Motor Association (IMI) have been scouting possible locations for legalized street racing and they seem to have come to the conclusion that Kemayoran is the ideal area.
The police say that they’re only going to accommodate one type of motorcycle racing, which is drag racing. Kemayoran is ideal for this because the area is filled with long stretches of uninterrupted and smooth roads.
“Most illegal street racing in Jakarta is drag racing,” said Adjunct Grand Commissioner Valentino Alfa Tatareda, deputy director of the Jakarta Traffic Police, as quoted by Warta Kota.
We’d hazard a guess that the police are going to turn parts of Jalan H. Benyamin Sueb into the government approved drag racing venue, considering how long and wide it is (it was once the runway to the old international airport in Kemayoran).
No word yet on when legalized street racing in Jakarta will come into effect.
