| August 26, 2011
Some 15 million Indonesians are expected to travel to celebrate Idul Fitri in their hometowns this year, National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam said on Friday.
“It is about a 4.14 percent increase from the 14 million people last year,” Anton said.
He said that with the high volume of traffic across the country for the mudik , a total of 426 accidents had been recorded on Friday. A total of 52 travelers were reported killed and 138 injured, many of them on motorcycles.
“Most of the victims were bikers,” he said. “That’s why we appeal to travelers, especially bikers, to be more careful, even more so in the evenings when there are problems with visibility.”
Anton said an uptick in crime had been reported along with the high number of traffic accidents, with 426 incidents of violent theft reported on Friday alone.
Reports from across Java showed that the main highways along the northern coast of Java were already packed with east-bound travelers.
Metro TV reported congestion on the main roads in Bandung as cars and motorcycles heading east vied with local vehicles carrying last-minute shoppers.
Agun Guntoro, chief of the traffic unit at the Subang district police in West Java, said the number of motorcyclists from Jakarta passing through the area had risen dramatically since Thursday. He added that the motorcyclists were showing more traffic discipline compared to last year.
“They are much more disciplined and are willing to queue on the left-hand side of the road so that there is no congestion,” Agun said.
Subang lies along the northern coastal Pantura highway, a popular route during the annual Idul Fitri exodus.
In the West Java district of Purwakarta, police had set up a special lane for motorcyclists. The route runs through Karawang, Johar, Telaga Sari, Cilamaya and Cikalong Sari.
Darmatin, one of the countless motorcyclists heading home for the holiday, said the trip to Semarang, the capital of Central Java, with his wife and child was “cheap and fun, too.”
Further east, in the northern Central Java district of Brebes, toll road officials said that while a railway crossing at a major intersection in Pejagan had caused a three-kilometer queue, vehicles were still moving, if slowly.
First Brig. Harfi, who was manning a traffic post further east, in Cisanggarung, said close to 31,000 motorcycles had passed the post on Friday, from 23,622 the previous day.
The Bogor Police were readying 150 officers to direct traffic passing through the Cisarua- Puncak route, a popular stretch on the holiday. Zainal Abidin, the traffic unit chief, said 37 units were on standby for deployment to traffic congestion points.
Oil and gas company Pertamina said fuel distribution had risen 14 percent above normal because of the exodus.
“The highest level of distribution was on August 25 at a Balongan gas station in West Java, at about 58 percent [above average],” said a Pertamina spokesman, Mochamad Harun.
He predicted that gas consumption would peak on Saturday with daily demand of about 98,000 kiloliters, up from the usual 68,000 kiloliters.
Meanwhile, Julian Aldrin Pasha, a presidential spokesman, said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the first lady would hold an open house at the State Palace on the first day of Idul Fitri.
He added that the first couple would spend the second day of the holiday in the privacy of their home in Cikeas, Bogor.
(x the JG)
vr 26 aug 2011 - 17:45