Other Publications
Fatal crash blamed on drunk driver
Triwik Kurniasari , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 10/23/2008 10:58 AM | City
An allegedly drunk and sleepy driver lost control of a Kopami minibus crashing into a wall of an underpass on Jl. Angkasa in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, on Wednesday morning.
One man died and all other passengers suffered injuries of various degrees, the traffic division of the Central Jakarta Police reported.
"The accident happened at about 4:30 a.m. The bus driver, Hendri Taufik, 41, was also injured," Adj. First Insp. Nana, an officer at the Central Jakarta Police said.
"The dead passenger, identified as Sugeng, was a resident of Semarang, Central Java. He sat right behind the bus driver," he said.
Sugeng had arrived in the city that very morning and got on the bus, which served a route between Senen in Central Jakarta and Kalideres in West Jakarta, Nana added.
His body was later taken to Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital for an autopsy.
Nana said the police would question Hendri over the accident as soon as he recovered from his injuries.
On the same day, a junior high school student died after getting out of a Kopaja minibus in Menteng, also in Central Jakarta.
The 12-year-old student, Davi, was on his way home from school when he leaped off the bus before it had fully stopped, Menteng Police reported.
The police said that Davi lost his balance and his body was dragged under the bus before being hit by the back wheel. He died instantly.
Passengers' safety remains a big problem for the city's public transportation, problems are often attributed to the recklessness of bus drivers.
Data from 2003-2007 from the city's traffic police shows that Kopaja vehicles were involved in 379 accidents, while Metromini minibuses and public minivans were involved in 730 and 624 accidents, respectively.
Jakarta's chapter of the organization of Land Transportation Owners (Organda) recorded that there were some 60,000 public transportation vehicles in Jakarta, including 4,200 Steady Safe and Mayasari Bakti large buses, 4,800 Kopaja and Metromini minibuses, 13,000 minivans, 23,300 taxis and 15,000 bajajs (three-wheeled vehicles).
Given the massive number of public vehicles in the city, competition between bus drivers is tough.
They often race each other to pick up as many passengers as possible, without considering passengers' safety. -- JP/Triwik Kurniasari
A. Farouk (not verified) — Thu, 10/23/2008 - 11:19am
Why is the Kopaja still allowed to operate after all this?? They are more a nuisance than anything. If anything the least the government can do is disallow the Kopaja from operating in areas equipped with the Busway. I have yet met a person who has anything nice to say about these Kopaja - even those who use them!