It’s crazy that this is something we have to tell you but, if you drive a car on the Kasablanka flyover in South Jakarta – which was designed exclusively for cars – you would be wise to be extra careful about motorcycles, driving against the flow of traffic, that could potentially crash into your car head on.
Yesterday, hundreds of online motorcycle taxi drivers set up a blockade on Jalan Kasablanka as a form of protest against what they claimed to be a traffic police “trap” on the flyover. 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 came down the other end (never mind that there are clear traffic signs forbidding motorcycles from entering the flyover on either end of the elevated road).
But it appears online motorcycle taxis aren’t the only ones who regularly break the law by driving on the Kasablanka flyover. This morning, Kumparan posted a video showing that motorcyclists risk their safety and others by driving back against the flow of traffic after they spotted traffic police officers at the end of the flyover.
But that video shows the mere tip of the iceberg. A video taken by Twitter user @didut from a tall building on Monday shows the true extent of the problem, with dozens of motorcycles taking up a whole lane as they drive back against the flow of traffic on the flyover (the poster notes that this happens every day on the flyover).
Orang Indonesia ini beneran deh ah.
*geleng-geleng
*terjadi tiap hari di atas Kasablanka pic.twitter.com/SqgYa1dumZ— Dian Adi Prasetyo (@didut) July 24, 2017
Indosiar’s news program Fokus aired a story about the law-breaking motorcyclists on July 24, showing that those who didn’t turn back on the flyover got fined Rp500,000, about USD37.50, by traffic police officers. The violators who were interviewed all said they risked driving on the Kasablanka flyover in order to avoid the massive traffic jams below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UToPBzUAeuU
But violators don’t only risk financial punishment by driving on the flyover. 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.
Jakarta Governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat has spoken of increasing sanctions for motorcyclists who drive on motorcycle-free flyovers.
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