Today I had a "smooth" ride taking my kids to school. It only took me about thirty minutes going to and fro. My kids go to the same school, a christian school (supposedly good, but I don't know..) in east Jakarta, very close to my house.
Do you know why it's smooth? Because at the intersection of Jl Pondok Bambu Batas and Jl Kalimalang, there were some policemen who directed the traffic! You would think then that, maybe those policemen are needed there because the traffic light doesn't work, right? NOOO. The traffic light works allright. You see, the traffic on Jl Kalimalang IS very heavy. So, being Indonesians, or maybe I should say Jakartans, motorists and car drivers (especially the infamous mikrolet drivers) do not want to stop when there is no policemen!! They keep going even though there's a red light right in front of their eyes! Now, the traffic from Jl Pondok Bambu Batas are mostly filled with parents or chartered cars of students (of the school where my kids go to). This is a two way, two lane street. Now, this school is located only about a few hundred meters from this intersection, on the right (to make it worse!).
Since they are taking school children, of course, they don't want to be late. Seeing that the traffic in Jl Kalimalang don't want to stop (when it's their turn to stop), they ALSO ignore the traffic light and keep making right turn going into Jl Kalimalang. Can you imagine?
To make matters worse, this Jl Kalimalang is a two-way street (each way has only one lane)! The traffic in Jl Kalimalang from opposite direction (the right of Jl Kalimalang) also wants to have their turn. Some of them want to go straight, some of them want to turn right left going into Jl Pondok Bambu Batas. So they struggle to have a turn, and at most times this, in turn, makes the intersection locked! You can imagine this not-so-big intersection jammed with motorists and car drivers going in four directions bumper-to-bumper, each trying to have its turn!!!
When there are no policemen guarding this intersection, it can take me an hour to get my kids to school, sometimes even more when the traffic jam is really bad. It's really a BAD way to start your morning. I used to feel angry, but now I just relaxed and just try to manage so that my car doesn't bump the motorists. You know, they are the king of the street in Jakarta.
I can't help feeling a bit sad though, thinking that Jakartans need a policeman to direct them, that they just can't obey the traffic light.
I guess what they say is true, that truly in Jakarta rules are meant to be broken.