TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - According to Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi, statistics show that motorcycle users still contribute to the high number of road accidents during the Ramadan homecoming mass-exodus.

“Motorcycle accidents amount to 70 percent during the mass-exodus. Not just accidents, but traffic jams are also caused by motorcycles,” said the minister in a meeting with stakeholders at the Transportation Ministry on Monday.

Despite a dropping trend in the 2018 mass-exodus compared to the 2017 road accidents, there are still a plethora of accidents last year with 307 motorcycle accidents along the homecoming routes while roads not used for the 2018 Eid al-Fitr homecoming still saw 996 motorcycles involved in road accidents.

Read: Eid Homecoming; Transport Ministry Focuses on Safety Issue

The death toll caused by the accidents last year reached 193, which is, fortunately, lower than the 2017 death toll of 478 people.

To anticipate this issue, the Transportation Ministry attempts to suppress the number even further this year by offering programs including free transport for Eid al-Fitr homecomers, mainly by a number of the ministry’s directorates.

The Transportation Ministry’s programs either take the form in free transport by bus and free train transport with free motorcycle storage for the people traveling to their hometowns and back. Research by the ministry predicts there will be around 18,290,358 people who will participate in this annual tradition in celebrating Islam’s Eid al-Fitr.

FRANCISCA CHRISTY ROSANA