Demanding National Transportation Safety

THERE is something to ponder when discussing the achievements of Indonesia's transportation development.

We often measure success by the length of roads constructed, the number of toll roads operational, the ports developed, the airports modernized, and the train networks expanded.

These indicators signify progress in development. However, a much more fundamental question should not be overlooked: how many citizens have lost their lives while using the transportation systems we have built?

As we approach the two-year mark of President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka's administration, transportation safety should serve as a crucial measure of national development success.

Success in development cannot simply be assessed by the increase in infrastructure and improved connectivity, but also by the government's ability to ensure that citizens can travel safely.

Data from the National Police's Traffic Corps (Korlantas Polri) indicates that in 2024, there were 150,906 traffic accidents, resulting in 26,839 fatalities.

In 2025, the number of accidents rose to 158,508, while the death toll decreased to 24,296.

This means that over these two calendar years, more than 51,000 people died as a result of road accidents. On average, about 70 people lose their lives each day.

The decrease in fatalities is commendable. However, the rising number of accidents indicates that transportation risk management has not yet fully succeeded.

We may have begun to reduce the fatal consequences of accidents, but we have not yet adequately succeeded in preventing accidents altogether.

Both aspects are different measures that must be considered together.

Moreover, the World Health Organization (WHO), in its Global Status Report on Road Safety 2023, estimated that there were 31,063 traffic-related deaths in Indonesia in 2021, which is higher than the reported administrative figure of 25,266 deaths.

This methodological discrepancy reminds us that the recording of accidents and casualties still needs strengthening.

Globally, WHO estimates that 1.19 million people die each year due to road accidents.

These figures should not merely be read as transportation statistics. Each death carries long-term social and economic consequences.

The loss of family breadwinners, rising healthcare costs, disrupted education for children, and lost productivity are often inadequately accounted losses in development.

Thus, transportation safety is genuinely a part of social protection policies and human resource development.

Safety as a Systemic Issue

In the evolution of transportation safety science, accidents are no longer solely understood as the result of driver or operator error.

The Safe System approach, developed through the Vision Zero concept in Sweden, is based on the reality that humans can make mistakes.

Therefore, transportation systems must be designed so that human errors do not inevitably result in death or severe injury.

James Reason, through his theory of organizational accidents, explains that major accidents often occur when various system weaknesses converge simultaneously.

Failures in oversight, technical malfunctions, procedural weaknesses, organizational errors, and human negligence can create a chain that ultimately leads to tragedy.

This perspective is important for Indonesia. When a bus, truck, ship, train, or plane accident occurs, public attention often immediately focuses on the driver or operator.

However, behind these incidents lies a series of decisions regarding infrastructure planning, vehicle feasibility, operational regulations, maintenance, oversight, and law enforcement.

In freight transport, for instance, accidents caused by oversized or overloaded vehicles cannot be resolved solely through enforcement against drivers.

The issue relates to competition in logistics pricing, pressure on distribution costs, cargo owner liability, and weak oversight of transport companies.

Similarly, driver fatigue cannot be separated from work hour regulations and operational demands.