Plis Deh Jakarta!

The city administration and the police take a crack in disciplining motorcycles and buses.

Good luck with that!

Perlengkapan hampir wajib untuk pengguna sepeda motor:

Jaket parasit, biasanya hitam, bertuliskan sebuah merk sepeda motor, lengkap dengan tempat dealership dengan alamat lengkap dan nomer telepon.

Efektif gak sih sebagai iklan berjalan?

Odd Jakarta Fact #651:

If there’s any form of accident in Jakarta, whether it is a burning buidling, car crash or anything else, crowds will form. Uniquely for Jakarta, especially for road accidents, people on motorcycles will swarm the accident site, sit there and look. Occasionally they don’t stop and pass by slowly to look, and jamming up the traffic behind them. And do nothing else… but stop and stare.

The common wisdom is a motorcycle uses less gasoline compared to a car, especially an SUV, so logically the emissions from a motorcycle are even less. Right? Wrong.

This article indicates that although motorcycles emit less CO, but they emit more NO2 which actually is worse for the air. Multiply that by 5000 new motorcycles per month (and that’s only Honda), and Jakarta is actually worse for wear. Take a look outside and look; I think you’d notice that pollution is actually worse. And the public buses that supposedly emit less emissions per capita compared to private vehicles are actually less well-maintained and spew out poison like nobody’s business, makes it worse.

If we want to start helping save the environment, I recommend B2W or any alternate way to get to the office. But of course I’m a total hippocrate and I drive from home to office in the 2-hour traffic jams… car pooling, anyone?

Kenapa sih?

Jumat dan Sabtu malem suka ada sekelompok pengendara motor berkeliaran, rata-rata 10 motor dengan rata-rata jumlah penumpang 2-3 orang, ngebut, nggak pake helm (sepertinya pici putih yang dipakai sudah cukup melindungi), berselempangkan sarung, dengan bawa bendera besar?

As for many Jakartan motorists, motorcycles and their riders are the bane of existence – including fellow motorcyclists. Check these points and tell me if I missed anything:

• riding without a helmet
• riding with more than 2 people on board
• riding at night without turning the lights on
• going against red lights
• going against one-way roads
• although still waiting for the red light, but strategically positioned beyond the red light line mark
• riding on the pavement
• making all sorts of noises for no apparent reason (horns and mufflers included)
• unnecessary speeding
• revving up the engine for no apparent reason
• filling up any empty space possible
• never stopping for pedestrians
• never can wait in line – has to go ahead of everyone
• carrying all sorts of stuff while riding a motorcycle – 50 kg bag of rice, 2×4 m wood panel, washing machine, 10 m steel rods, television, computer, home aircon, 24 live chickens, and so on

Did at some point motorcyles get written out of the traffic laws?

(originally posted Nov 17, 2005)

You know, Jakartans, especially the ones who drive a vehicle, have a fixation with… sound. Klakson. alat serbaguna yang pasti ada di setiap kendaraan, dalam berbagai bentuk, rupa dan suara. dan Knalpot. The muffler that really doesn’t do its name justice.
Inilah rangkuman gue tentang kepercayaan-kepercayaan orang Jakarta sekitar klakson dan knalpot:

1. Hukum fisika selama ini salah. ternyata memang sebuah gelombang suara [yang berasal dari klakson] dapat menggerakkan benda padat, apalagi bila intensitas atau frekuensi bunyi tersebut ditingkatkan.
Example: Really big bus cuts into the outer lane, in front of a car and several motorcycles. the motorcycles and car sound their horns in unison, kontan bis langsung bergeser sedikit, paling tidak memberikan ruang untuk motor berlalu. If an alien were to come to Jakarta and witness this, they would assume that Jakartans have very powerful sound-based weapons.

2. Klakson lebih berguna daripada rem! people will sound their horns first before even thinking of hitting the brakes; God forbid losing momentum and really having to stop. Again, semakin sering klakson dibunyikan, makin efektif.

3. Klakson dapat membuka pintu dan membuat orang-orang sekitar menoleh, terutama bila dibunyikan berkali-kali. Pure fact. Terutama kalo klaksonnya dibunyikan di daerah perumahan.

4. A muffler has a different purpose in Jakarta. Instead of muffling the engine noise, it should amplify and modify the engine noise. The louder, the infinitely better.

5. Suara knalpot ini akan membuat orang-orang yang mendengar merasa senang dan tenang di hati; jadi tiap kesempatan yang ada, whether its at the traffic light or anywhere the vehicle is driving slow, pengendara akan menginjak gas supaya suara knalpot makin terdengar. This is a true civic duty. We all owe our happiness to these drivers, and their mufflers.

6. Sama halnya dengan knalpot, suara klakson juga memiliki kemampuan untuk membahagiakan dan menenangkan; sehingga banyak pengendara yang sering berbaik hati membunyikan klakson mereka sering-sering. Jakarta is such a lovely city with its symphony of horns.

7. Untuk mengkoordinir pembunyian klakson ini, pemerintah Jakarta menciptakan fungsi baru untuk lampu kuning pada lampu lalu lintas. When in other countries or areas, the yellow light only functions as a warning before the red light, in Jakarta, the yellow light also turns on before the green light. Ini tanda supaya pengendara membunyikan klakson mereka beramai-ramai di saat yang sama, untuk mencapai hasil yang optimal. Intensitas dan frekuensinya akan makin tinggi bila dibunyikan pada saat yang sama, sehingga efek pada masyarakat juga lebih kuat. As you can see, the local government is adept to these issues and actions accordingly.

These are the results of my research so far; but if anybody has some interesting leads, let us know!