TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Witia (24) angrily tweeted last week about her near-accident experience in Ratu Plaza, South Jakarta. She was very upset since she was properly walking on a sidewalk when a motorcycle missed her by inches.
Witia would not be the first Jakartan to have such an experience. Hers however proves that pedestrian facility in the Capital is terrible.
Antoni Ladjar, the pioneer of Pedestrian Coalition NGO, scored pedestrian facility only "5" out of 1-10 scale. Antoni said proper sidewalks in the Capital can only be found in Sudirman and M.H. Thamrin. The rest is a bunch of mess. He quoted the data from Metro Police, saying that at least there were 18 pedestrians got killed a day due to accidents in 2010.
Not only the less-proper sidewalk, pedestrians must also 'battle' their way against the daredevil motorbike riders that often be found on the sidewalks to crossing bridges.
Another problem, Antoni said, is not on the sidewalk, but on the security and accessibility for pedestrians. "There are many crossovers that are not integrated with the zebra cross, therefore pedestrians hardly make the cross," he added.
Yoga Adiwinarto, Country Director Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), provided a note on access limitation. A decent sidewalk may not have connectivity, like being blocked by building.
This is seen as ironic, compared to the city administration's discourse to help fixing public transportations by procuring 1,000 new buses. "Before expecting the society to make use of public transportation, supporting facilities for pedestrians must be improved," Antoni said.
ANGGRITA DESYANI
