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Traffic and Accidents On the Rise as Idul Fitri Approaches
Putri Prameshwari | September 08, 2010

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Roland
4:30pm Sep 9, 2010

Just the usual and no mercy for it - a complete disastrous traffic situation on all highways, ridiculous, ignorant driving (as usual), an utter waste of gasoline for idling cars along kilometers and kilometers of congested roads, but nobody seems to have at least a bit of a learning curve and is maybe considering the trip home via public transportation. And the worst, mostly just to show off their new acquired cars and bikes at home in the villages. Or, how about just starting the trip a couple of days earlier, so the amount of cars hitting the road is a bit more evenly distributed?

Sad only that the numbers of deadly accidents already by Wednesday reached such high numbers - hopefully this will not be another new record to be booked...

The only good thing is that for a few days at least Jakarta's roads are as they should be in the first place (apart of the condition of the road surface in many areas)!

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Jakarta. The country’s toll roads were lined with vehicles, and seaports and airports were mobbed by crowds on Wednesday, as Indonesians struggled to get home to celebrate Idul Fitri, which begins on Friday.

Starting in the early morning hours, popular routes like the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road were already backed up with cars and motorbikes, according to the Ministry of Transportation’s National Integrated Transportation Center.

“The Cikampek toll road was the worst, with thousands of cars backing up and jamming up other toll roads,” said Elly Sinaga, a staff member at the center. A video monitor at one gate showed bumper-to-bumper traffic stretching for four kilometers, she said.

Several exits on the toll road had to be closed temporarily and people were diverted to alternative routes, she added.

“For example, we closed an exit gate in Cikopo, Purwakarta, so cars heading to Central and East Java should exit at the Sadang gate,” Elly said.

The ministry’s director general of land transportation, Suroyo Alimoeso, called on motorists to drive with care and to be responsible on the roads, especially considering recent extreme weather patterns.

“The weather has been unpredictable,” he said. “It has been raining along the northern coastline, so the roads are likely to be more slippery.”

Heavy rains forced Adisucipto International Airport in Yogyakarta to shut down temporarily on Wednesday, and several flights were also delayed at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

Police announced that as of Wednesday, 166 people across the country had died in transportation accidents during mudik , the annual pilgrimage home for Idul Fitri, which marks the end of Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.

A spokesman for the Jakarta Police, Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar, recommended that passengers not ride in the backs of pickup trucks during mudik.

“It’s for the passengers’ own safety. What if they fall off the back of the truck? People stand in the back of the trucks; it’s dangerous,” he said.

Herry Bhakti Singayuda, director general of civil aviation at the Ministry of Transportation, said Garuda Indonesia, Merpati Nusantara Airlines and Sriwijaya Air had requested a total of 89 extra flights to Bali during the holiday period.

But not everyone who is traveling this holiday plans to stay in Indonesia.

According to I Gde Galih, a ticketing officer at Smailing Tour and Travel, most people who booked flights through the agency for the mudik period are heading to Singapore and Hong Kong. Galih said that after those destinations, the next most popular destination was Japan.

“Flights to [Singapore and Hong Kong] have been fully booked since Monday,” he said.

The Ministry of Transportation expects some 15 million Indonesian will travel during Idul Fitri this year.