Hundreds of online motorcycle taxis from various companies this morning held a brief protest in which they used themselves and their motorcycles as a blockade on busy Jalan Kasablanka in South Jakarta, creating massive gridlock on the already perpetually jammed thoroughfare.
According to the media, the motorcycle taxi drivers were protesting against what they described as traffic police “traps” on the Kasablanka flyover, which is forbidden to motorcycles. They accused the traffic police of deliberately only assigning traffic officers at the end of the flyover and not the start, so those who have already committed the illegal act of driving their motorcycle on the flyover would have no means of escaping a ticket when they come down (never mind that there are clear traffic signs forbidding motorcycles from entering the flyover on either end of the elevated road).
“From the entrance (near Karet), there’s no (officer) guarding the flyover, but here (at the end near Kota Kasablanka Mall) there is, it’s like I’m being trapped,” an unnamed motorcycle taxi driver told Kompas during the protest.
The motorcycle taxi drivers’ blockade reportedly caused a traffic jam from the front of Kota Kasablanka Mall to the end of the flyover, adjacent to the Menteng Pulo Cemetery (though traffic jams this long are common in the area during busy hours).
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Police officers soon came to the scene and dispersed the protesters while denying that they deliberately trapped motorcyclists coming off of the flyover.
“Well that’s what they say. The truth is back there (on the Karet end) and down here (on the Kota Kasablanka end) there are law enforcers. They’re trying to come up with excuses,” said Commissioner Hari A. from the Jakarta Traffic Police.
Authorities believe that the road blockade was actually a response to a recent police crackdown on motorcycles driving on the Kasablanka flyover. The police say there’s been such a surge of motorcyclists disobeying the flyover prohibition that they have run out of tickets to issue, leading Jakarta Governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat to instruct law enforcers to introduce harsher punishments such as vehicle confiscation.
Meanwhile, the Jakarta City Transportation Council (DTKJ) asked the government and law enforcement to occasionally allow motorcycles onto the flyover, depending on traffic conditions, because they believe motorcyclists would still risk punishment by going up the elevated road in order to avoid getting stuck in traffic jam below.
Motorcycles are forbidden from the Kasablanka flyover – and several other major flyovers in Jakarta – for safety reasons, as strong winds and extreme weather can potentially knock motorcyclists off the 18-meter high elevated road. In fact, in 2014, a pregnant woman died after falling off of the flyover as her husband, who was driving her, tried to turn back and drive against the flow of traffic to avoid a traffic police checkpoint ahead of them.
