The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The city police recorded 18,164 traffic violations during a 10-day operation designed to improve motorist discipline, which ended Sunday.
Officers chose to issue only 2,948 tickets, verbally warning the other violators.
The number is a 300 percent increase in recorded violations compared to regular operations conducted in the 10 days preceding the operation, said Comr. Irvan Prawira, head of the effort.
The bulk of the violations included ignoring traffic lights, speeding, driving against traffic flow and motorcyclists without helmets.
He said the police did not ticket most violators because they preferred to take a "persuasive" approach.
"We want to make motorists show more discipline in a soft way," he said.
During an earlier operation, the police recorded 5,004 violations and issued 4,320 tickets.
There were more officers involved in this second operation, from 600 to 700 in the first operation to 1,500.
The operation was prompted by an increase in violations and accidents recorded by the police in 2007, in which there were 52,793 recorded violations and 453 accidents on average monthly, while this year there were 52,984 violations and 538 accidents in January alone.
The operation, Irvan said, was also designed to discipline police officers.
"Through this operation we wanted to change their attitude and bring them under control," he said.
Police in the city are notorious for their lack of integrity. Many officers, including those working on the streets, often accept bribes rather than issue warnings or punishment, leading motorists to take advantage by driving recklessly and ignoring traffic rules.
Irvan said during the operation police recorded 86 traffic accidents including 10 fatalities, a decrease from the 108 accidents and 19 fatalities recorded over the 10 days prior to the operation.
According to a recent university study, there are an average of 300 motorcycle-related accidents every month.
Irvan said the police also aimed to address traffic congestion during the 10-day operation.
"It was difficult to overcome the traffic jams despite there being more officers deployed over 97 spots around the city. There were many other factors like flooding, damaged streets and out-of-order traffic lights," he said.
Irvan said motorists frequently blamed the police for the out-of-order traffic lights and not the Jakarta Transportation Agency, whose responsibility they are.
"We will keep on cooperating with the agency and other institutions to deal with traffic," he added.
Irvan said he was satisfied with the operation results but did not know whether it would be held again in the future.
"We still have to evaluate it on Wednesday. Then we will see. If motorists prove more disciplined, we might continue with the operation. If things get worse, however, we may hold an 'Obedient Operation', in which strict action, such as issuing tickets, will be taken against all violators," he said. (trw)
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