First day in the morning after touching down at Soekarno Hatta Airport the night before from the U.S., I took a taxi to go around Jakarta. Along the way, I saw some angkot/bajaj drivers that were so busy with their cellphones and were listening to loud dangdut songs while driving. Frankly, I felt so terrified and can’t stop imagining myself as a passenger. I would not feel safe at all and, perhaps, I will pray to God so that I could make it home. So, were they distracted drivers or were they just trying to entertain themselves while stuck in the middle of Jakarta’s bad traffic?

Bus/angkot/bajaj (read: public transportation) driving is an occupation that requires high concentration in driving, and is demanding due to work overload, time pressure, and responsibility for lives. When the bus is involved in an accident, the size of transit buses and potential number of passengers in danger is worth attention. Furthermore, a bus driver is not only driving, but he/she needs to operate the bus , such as supervising ticket machine operation, maintaining communication with Transit Operation Center, opening and closing the bus doors, being aware of stopping alert, keeping on-time performance, monitoring passengers, assisting senior/disabled people, etc.

Performing secondary tasks while driving might affect drivers’ driving control and safety. Thus, supervision of bus driver activity plays an important role to ensure the safety of the passengers and the efficiency of transit system. My master thesis was about developing a system to automate this supervision, using only naturalistic driving data which then were analyzed using our pattern recognition algorithm of driving data. Dr. Abbas, my thesis advisor, and I developed several statistical models that can map those driving data to the potential distraction. We hope by using these models, a transit (read: bus) supervisor can identify the occurrences of distractions and can interfere to alleviate the distraction. In this study, we also analyzed the likelihood of bus drivers’ involvements in 17 distracted driving behaviors. We found that male drivers seems to be more likely to be involved in distracted driving behaviors, such as listening to Dispatch Office (DO) broadcast, adjusting sun visor, adjusting seat/seat belt, and utilizing mentor ranger; Older operators were slightly less likely to be exposed by music, 2-way radio, communication with DO, and passenger conversation; and More experienced operators were more likely to talk to passenger and interact with children passengers. Although some of these distractions may not seem dangerous or threatening, many things could happen when you’re driving at high speed or carelessly.

Back to the reality in Indonesia… Interestingly, Indonesia has anti-distracted driving laws according to 2009 UU No. 22, Section (Pasal) 283. This rule states that anyone who performs reckless or distracted driving on the road will be punished with a maximum of 3 months imprisonment or with a maximum fine of Rp 750.000. Quite frankly, with high number of riders in Indonesia, it seems to be very challenging to enforce this rule without the support/campaign from the government, transportation research institutes, and the people. Yet, operational system of public transportation in Indonesia was not entirely monitored by one department. Even, individual is able to own a transit mode under one organization’s name, pay the license/permission to operate, and hire another driver to operate it. Then, the driver has to meet daily target. The results are clear. Many transit operators were frustratingly competing to get more passengers without giving more attention to the safety of the passengers. At the end of the day, the lives of the passengers are in danger, and the transit drivers may lose the trust from the people and may lose their income as well. Those drivers will become more aggressively in getting the passengers and this cycle will never end. No more attention to the use of cellphone, talking to passenger while driving, or any kind of distracted driving activity that might lead to crashes. I do believe that the transit system today has received more attention from the government and I hope one day, the automated supervision system of our design could be implemented or learned for the future of safer public transportation in Indonesia.

What we can do? If you happen to be a passenger of any kind of public transportation and witness any distracted driving activity performed by your driver, do not hesitate to warn them. Your safety is worth more attention and should be the priority. Or if you drive by yourself, please drive responsibly and respect other road users’ safety. Here are some tips for you to avoid being distracted while driving:

1.    Do not use your cell phone (no text, no call, no browsing).
2.    Avoid eating messy foods (no food spills).
3.    Do not listen to very loud music. The volume of the music does matter.
4.    Do not “have party” with your friends inside your car. Limit your activity level.
5.    If you have to do any activities above or in emergency, pull off the road and stop at safe location.
6.    If children on board, keeping them self-entertained with books or video/audio devices. If possible, keep your children not distract you while driving or ask for companion.
7.    Always wear seatbelts.
8.    Finally, always keep your two hands on the wheel, as well as your eyes and mind on the road.

•    Article by Nurlayla Arbie, Fulbright Indonesia Research Science and Technology (FIRST) Program (Master’s Degree) Civil Engineering Department, Virginia Tech 2014

Reference:
•    Arbie, N., Master Thesis: Exploratory Study of Distracted Behaviors of Transit Operators.http://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/handle/10919/50433. August 2014. Virginia Tech.
•    Arbie, N. and Abbas, M. M., Discriminant Analysis of Transit Operator Distracted Driving Behaviors using Naturalistic Driving Data. Presented at the 17th International IEEE Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems – ITSC 2014 in Qingdao, China, October 2014