Police in Jakarta are searching for a cheeky motorcyclist who thought he could escape a fine for a traffic violation simply by covering his license plate with his arm.
(Editor’s note: as amusing as this story might be, we do not condone breaking the law on the road or anywhere else.)
A photo of the traffic violation was caught by an Electronic Traffic Law Enforcement (ETLE) traffic camera, showing a male motorcyclist illegally driving on a TransJakarta bus lane. However, the motorcycle’s license plate was obscured by the driver’s arm, who, along with his passenger in the back, grinned as they pulled off the stunt.
Jakarta Metro Police’s Traffic Department Law Enforcement Sub-division Head Fahri Siregar said that the recorded incident took place yesterday morning.
“The motorcyclist broke through the TransJakarta corridor at the Duren Tiga stop, Mampang Prapatan, South Jakarta towards Kuningan,” Fahri told Kompas yesterday.
According to Fahri, police will look up for the motorcyclist’s identity through face recognition, noting that the license plate was covered and authorities are therefore unable to identify the driver from the vehicle’s registration.
“We will identify him by matching the recordings from other cameras and his facial characteristics will be profiled through the population database,” Fahri continued.
It does seem like a lot of effort to catch someone who deserves to pay a traffic fine. Maybe that’s necessary to deter other motorcyclists from doing the same thing? It’s such an obvious trick, after all.
The Jakarta Metro Police Traffic Directorate began imposing fines on motorcyclists caught violating traffic rules through the ETLE system earlier this week, after it was announced last month that the policy would include motorcycles.
Following a trial period over last weekend, during which 341 motorcyclists were caught with violations but escaped with warnings, the policy is now fully enforced at several locations across the capital, including the busy commercial thoroughfare of Jalan Sudirman and Jalan M.H. Thamrin.
Fahri previously said that there will be a total of 57 CCTV cameras utilized for ETLE on Sudirman and Thamrin.
The ETLE system allows police to utilize CCTV cameras and record traffic violations, such as driving without a helmet, disobeying traffic signs, to usage of mobile phone while driving. Those violations are punishable by a IDR250K (US$18.20) fine, IDR500K fine and potential two-month jail sentence, as well as three-month jail sentence with IDR750K fine, respectively.
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 14 days to pay their fine via a partner bank. Failure to do so would result in their vehicle registration being frozen, meaning the motorist wouldn’t be able to pay their annual vehicle tax until their fines are paid.
For the time being, the ETLE system is only going to be used to impose fines on motorcyclists who have Jakarta license plates due to database limitations. The police aim to be able to fine all violators as the system subsequently gets updated in the future.
Reader Interactions