The new regulation on motorcycle was officially valid this Monday. After the regulation of turning on the front light of every motorcycle, now it was the regulation for motorcycle’s driver to take the left lane of the road. The aims of the two new regulations were to reduce the number of motorcycle accident caused by overly crowded traffic. And since motorcycle has the smallest body size compared to other vehicles, motorcycle often suffers as victim in traffic accident. Although I must say this term sounds inappropriate, since most of the motorcycle’s driver often drove like a mad man, and I - who sometimes drive to work - often feel irritated by the way they drove. But I have to admit that motorcycle which size is smaller than cars often slip the eye of car’s driver; these are the moments when accident that took motorcycle as the victim happens.
I’ve seen the introduction of the new regulation for the past two weeks. In the road along Buncit until Gatot Subroto, police were standing in the left lane of the road, directing the motorcycles to take the left lane and ONLY the left lane. And I said it was a good job. I feel the direct impact of this regulation and I could tell that road in Gatot Subroto feels a bit wider since it was free of motorcycle. And every now and then when I drive, I became more aware of the motorcycle’s existence by seeing their front lights through the rear view. I’m not going to argue about these regulations; I agree to the implementation of the regulations. Mini once told me, when he was in China, motorcycle has their own lanes on the left side of the road. The special lane was only for motorcycles and no other vehicles.
Speaking of motorcycle’s accident, there were four cases of motorcycle’s accident that was happening to people I knew. The most recent one was last night. My cousin had an accident on his way home. He hit a car on his attempt to pass a bus. He didn’t see the car coming from his left, he went on speed and very surprised when the car appeared on his left. Then bang! He hit the car and fell to the ground. When he rose up and cleaning up his mess, he later realized that his left pointer finger was bleeding, his finger almost broke off. Luckily, the person whose car he hit was kind enough to take him to the hospital. He made it to the hospital and had a surgery. It was horror, poor him :(
The other two accidents even took the life of the driver. The first one was my friend’s father, who got hit by a bus. And the other one was my colleague who was hit by a car on his way to the office. The worse thing was his motorcycle was stolen when he was unconscious after he was hit. How ironic!
For that reason, I have strong hope to the new regulation for the motorcycle and its driver. I hope the number of accident can be reduced infact, I hope that there weren’t any other accident in the future, especially the one that took lives of the driver.
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