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The Bitter Truth: No Respect for Pedestrians

Motorcyclists use the pedestrian crossing bridge at MT Haryono road, South Jakarta. (Suara Pembaruan Photo/Jurnasyanto Sukarno)

It was late at night and I wasn’t in any hurry. Coming out of an alleyway, I saw a man walking slowly down the sidewalk. As he looked like he was about to cross the street, I stopped my car to let him pass. I waited there for a moment, but to my surprise nothing happened. I looked at the 20-something guy, he looked back at me, with a puzzled expression on his face. I signaled for him to cross, but he just stood still. I decided to wait for another second. This time he gestured for me to pass first. I had no choice, so I moved along.

Here is a bitter truth about Jakarta: We’ve treated pedestrians so badly for so many years that they don’t even realize they have the right to receive better treatment, especially from drivers.

I don’t know what the traffic conditions have done to drivers in this city, but it seems to me they’ve all gone mad. They don’t seem to understand that they have an obligation to prioritize the safety of pedestrians.

Just because the pedestrian in front of you is walking slowly doesn’t mean that you can honk at him as if he were deaf. Show some respect, will you? If a pedestrian is about to cross the street, you shouldn’t slam on the gas, like you’re all used to doing. Instead, you should hit the breaks immediately. I know we’re all busy in this city, but hey, sparing one or two seconds of your time will not kill you. Just relax a little bit.

In this city, shamefully, pedestrians are treated as if they don’t exist. Most drivers are only focused on other cars and motorcycles. All they can think about is finding ways to arrive at their destination quickly. The phrase, “Hey, watch out for that car” is commonly heard, but I’ve certainly never heard anyone say, “Look out for that pedestrian.”

Drivers are not the only ones to blame. The city administration doesn’t seem to be doing anything about this either. They’re busy building new underpasses and flyovers, encouraging people to buy more cars and motorcycles, so little is being done to improve the condition of sidewalks around the city. 

Look around us: It is becoming more and more difficult for people to simply walk down the street. If we were honest, we’d admit that proper, civilized sidewalks are only available around the Sudirman-Thamrin area. Outside of that area, we all know how bad the condition of the sidewalks is.

In many locations around the capital, you’d be considered insane to walk on the sidewalk, packed as they are with street vendors and ojek stations. The worst thing is that in order to skip the traffic, motorcyclists think it’s fine to jump onto the sidewalk and clog those too, leaving pedestrians with nowhere to walk at all — a barbaric scene to foreigners.

This whole situation is disastrous. I myself am a culprit, as I still drive my car every day. But I have unending respect for those who choose to take public transportation, ride a bike or simply walk to their destination. With the possibility of traffic coming to a complete stop in a few more years, we have to agree that pedestrians are the real heroes here.

Jakarta Jungle follows the stories and views of individuals from every walk of life in our maddening, bustling, and colorful city.