Indonesia's Vehicle Marking Regulation: Why Should We Implement?

Implementation of Technical Guidelines for Additional Light Reflection Tools (APCT) on Large Vehicle, Trucks, and Trailers

Based on Directorate General of Land Transportation of Ministry of Transportation Number SK.5311 / AJ.410 / DRJD / 2018

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Indonesia is a big country both in terms of area and population. This large number is a resource to be proud of and can be empowered for the development of our nation. With this large population, of course the movement of goods and people will become a challenge. Where in the other hand, the number of accidents that occur throughout the year needs to be reduced. There are thousands of vehicles involved in traffic accidents throughout 2018. This figure will increase if we together do not try to overcome them.

From the accident data of National Police Department in 2018, there were recorded around 1 million new four-wheeled vehicles and 7 million two-wheelers registered in a year. If accumulated, vehicles that registered are no less than 130 million vehicles, which is very huge. From the data, large vehicles, especially trucks, is around 6 million or 4.3% of the total vehicle population. The portion is relatively small compared to the total vehicle data. But, accidents involving trucks accounted for 9% of the total accidents. So, 4.3% of truck population accounts for 9% of accidents involving trucks. And we know if a truck has an accident, there will be a big possibility that the victim is from another vehicle, be it a motorcycle, a car and others which often from smaller vehicles.

Accidents at night are around 32%, where the number of vehicles operating at night is only around 20%. So, travel at night is riskier. Why? Of course, low visibility at night is one of the concerns. Drivers can only see 5% of their surroundings compared to driving in the afternoon. This factor is one of the causes of night accidents.

When viewed from the type of collisions, side crashes and rear hits have the highest portion or more than 35% of total accidents. From everyday events we often see rear-hit events and side-crashes involving large vehicles, especially trucks. Trucks often run too slow or stop at the roadsides. For this reason, the vehicle marking stickers—or in Indonesia we call APCT (Alat Pemantul Cahaya Tambahan)—are made and designed so that large vehicles, especially trucks, can be more visible to other drivers when driving at night.

There is a research in Europe which involved 1000 trucks installed with vehicle marking and 1000 trucks that were not. Then the trucks ran as usual for 10 years. And after 10 years it was found that the incidence of rear-hit accidents from trucks installed by vehicle marking was reduced by 41% compared to those which were not installed, and the side-hit incidences of trucks installed was reduced by 37% compared to those which were not installed by vehicle marking—or what we call with APCT in Indonesia.

APCT is designed to be seen at least 200 meters by other drivers at night, so other motorists can anticipate the presence of large vehicles. Of course, this APCT is not just any reflector stickers. To ensure that, Directorate General of Land Transportation of Ministry of Transportation Decree Number SK.5311/AJ/410/DRJD/2018 requires that the APCT needs to meet UNECE R104 standard and have certified. As an additional information, that more than 50 countries in Europe, America, Asia and Australia have implemented rules for vehicle marking, where more than 35 countries in Europe and Asia including Southeast Asia have implemented the UN ECE R104 rules.

So again, the APCT is intended to improve traffic safety, especially in large vehicles. The application has been arranged in full version in Directorate General Decree Number SK.5311/AJ/410/DRJD/2018. Below are the sample illustrations and installation drawings.