Thursday, December 2, 2010

Texting While Driving is Dangerous

" Be careful guys, the Police will Fine you Rp 750,000,- if they catch you texting while driving. " That's the text message that I received from my big sister Aty as I was driving to my office this morning.

I was thankful that she reminded me that the Jakarta Police will now enforce the Traffic and Land Transportation Law 2009 Article 283 which prohibits activities that distract drivers from focusing on the road. Violation of this law carries a maximum sentence of three months in Jail, or Rp. 750,000,- Fine.

According to The Jakarta Post, the Police impose this ban because of the very high numbers of traffic accidents in Jakarta. Their record shows that between 8 November and 1 December 2010, there were 416 accidents with 61 fatalities, 139 injuries and total loss of Rp 846 million. Due to which, 92,282 drivers were caught violating traffic regulations, 78,882 violation tickets were issued.
The biggest offenders were motorcycle riders with 66,555 violations, drivers of public transportation with 18,443 violations and drivers of private cars with 9,076 violations.

I believe that the texting while you are driving is dangerous for yourself and for others, therefore should be banned. In this case, I hope that the Police would be consistent in issuing the violation tickets.

17 comments:

dee said...

Yes No Texting While Driving! Thanks for share us Harry..

Jolly Princess said...

In the Philippines texting while driving is not punishable yet. In Manila, except for public transport drivers, most private car owners would rather call than send text message while driving. We have cheap service providers here. When you are a public transport driver in Manila. There is no way your able to text and drive. If a driver wants to pick up more passengers he must concentrate on his driving. Our Manila public transport drivers earn on commission basis.

ReBorn said...

without rules people should already understand in driving safety. well, hopefully the police can be consistent in applying the law.

NENSA MOON said...

I'm totally agree... texting while driving was very dangerous!!

Thanks for the post, Harry!

all the best,
nensa

NTRage03 said...

wow, thanks for info :)
its very help us :)

colson said...

People can do many crazy things behind the wheel indeed. Driving and drinking, driving and making love, driving and changing baby's nappies, driving and changing clothes, driving and quarrelling. Driving and texting is among the craziest ones.

So the police policy is kind of service to sanity.

Passionate Blogger said...

I totally agree! Texting while driving should be banned! It's almost like writing on, or reading a book while driving.

ibnumuksin said...

ga ngerti gan

Furree Katt said...

i think this rule is great, i wish it was implemented in Pakistan as well, since there have been a lot of accidents here because of careless driving due to texting.
i hope this law remains! :D

pj said...

As long as we are talking distractions what are televisions doing in the dashboard these days? Driving require one's full attention. Hard to do if watching satu lawan seratus.

Ria Tumimomor said...

people just so itching to use their handphone regardless the place, situation and condition... sighed...
Even when people have already been told that it is dangerous to use handphone on the plane...surprise...they are still doing it!

Seiri Hanako said...

cukup adil juga dengan resiko yg bisa ditimbulkan

TUKANG CoLoNG said...

harus lebih hati2

Tanah Lot said...

It's been consider a dangerous thing to do out there but here in Indonesia people still do that even call

Unknown said...

@Dee,
Yes you are right.

@JP,
Thank you for sharing with us about the conditions in the Philippines whereby texting while driving is not punishable yet, and drivers prefer to call then texting.

@ReBorn,
In order this regulation to be obeyed, its enforcement should be consistent.

@Nensa,
It is very dangerous indeed.

@Aciid,
I am glad that it helped you.

@Colson,
Driving and texting can be done so crazily by so many people here.
So, like you said the police are rendering some sort of service to sanity.

@Ismail/Passionate Blogger,
Yes, texting is almost the same as writing on or reading a book while driving.

@Ibnumuksin,
Terima kasih atas kunjungan dan komentar anda.

@Furree Katt,
I also hope so that similar sule can be applied in other cities so that accidents can be decreased.

@PJ,
I fully agree with you, car TVs on dashboards might also distract driver's attention from the road.

@Ria/Dream Catcher,
You are right, in spite of the regulation, there will always be people who would violate it.

@Seiri,
Tepat sekali, karena membahayakan baik pengendara sendiri maupun orang lain.

@TUKANG CoLoNG,
Semoga demikian ya.

@Tanah Lot,
Yes, let us hope that this regulation will make drivers aware that texting while driving is dangerous.

Unknown said...

Illegal in NZ these days - stupid and dangerous practice anyway.

Unknown said...

Hi Peter/Kiwi Riverman,
I agree that it is stupid and dangerous practice.