Alfian, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Half of Indonesia's transport accidents are caused by technical failures, a newly installed professor in engine construction and energy conversion said Wednesday.
Gimbal Dolok Saribu was speaking at ceremony to see him become the new professor at the faculty of engineering and science at the National University in Jakarta.
He said technical accidents were "transportation mishaps caused by material damage".
"These can be very dangerous when they happen at dynamic or movable parts of a vehicle especially when it is moving fast," Gimbal said.
Technical accidents were caused by mistakes in design, poor material selection and material fatigue, he said.
In order to reduce air fares, it was common among airlines to keep using old and exhausted spare parts rather than replacing them with new ones, Gimbal said.
Similar practices occurred across the land and sea transportation sector.
"But the authorities are not aware of such practices.
"And even if they do know, the officials can easily be bought (off)."
Gimbal said there were two other types of accidents, including procedural and systematic.
A procedural accident occurred when a poor decision or violation of procedures was made. A systematic accident was defined as a smaller accident likely to cause a larger one.
The sources of systemic accidents were difficult to trace, Gimbal said, because they generally involved the operation of sophisticated technology.
Transportation facilities including highways and railway should be upgraded, but above all, the competence of human resources need to be improved, he said.
Also installed as professors on Wednesday were Ibrahim Abdullah in political science, Jeane Neltje Saly in law and Lijan Poltak Sinambela in public administration.
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