A wake-up call for Indonesia’s National Road Safety Plan from a Youth Perspective

Article by Estiara Ellizar, Indonesia

Indonesia has shown its commitment to road safety through Presidential Decree No 1 of the Year 2022 on Indonesia’s National Road Safety Plan. A year after the Decree was passed, progress to reduce the number of road traffic fatalities has remained unchanged because of the lack of multisectoral coordination.

To address this, the Ministry of Transportation, through the Transport Policy Agency, initiated a Focus Group Discussion to harmonize the implementation of its National Road Safety Plan. The Focus Group Discussion invited all relevant Ministries responsible for each road safety pillar. These include; the Ministry of National Development Planning/National Development Planning Agency for Pillar 1: Road Safety Management, the Ministry of Public Works and Housing for Pillar 2: Safer Roads, the Ministry of Transport for Pillar 3: Safer Vehicles, the Traffic Corps National Police for Pillar 4: Safer Roads User, the Ministry of Health for Pillar 5: Post-crash response, and other relevant stakeholders.

The discussion aimed to strengthen institutional coordination related to the achievement of the National Road Safety Plan targets, especially when it comes to the five ministries and agencies responsible for the road safety pillars.

In his opening speech, the Head of Transport Policy Agency, Dr. Gede Pasek Suardika called for institutions to coordinate with all stakeholders as they collaborate and support local communities. Three speakers followed the introduction; Special Advisor for Infrastructure, Energy, and Investment at the Executive Office of the President of the Republic of Indonesia Bambang Prihartono, Jasa Raharja representative Hervanka Dianto, and Ministry of Transport representative Heri Prabowo.

It was a great honor to lead and moderate this interactive discussion as I drew confidence and lessons from my seven years of experience in the field of road safety. This similarly goes for the skills I’ve acquired as a Youth leadership Board member under the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety. In this discussion, I also represented the Youth in Transport (Insan Muda Transportasi), a community for youth within the Ministry. I was excited to learn about our role in implementing Indonesia’s National Road Safety Plan through constructive contribution, suggestions, and feedback.

As mentioned in the Global Plan for the Decade of Action on Road Safety 2021-2030, young people play an important role in shaping the future transport system for some key reasons as follows: (1) Youth are the age group most affected by road trauma, with road traffic crashes being the leading cause of death among those aged 5-29 years, (2) youth are the generation that will inherit the outcomes of decisions made today about the safety of the evolving transport system, and (3) meaningful engagement with young leaders can help foster greater ownership of the road safety issue and develop a new cohort of road safety advocates with a fresh perspective on the future of mobility.

During the discussion, Bambang Prihartono emphasized that the key to Indonesia’s National Road Safety Plan involves different factors like evaluation, key performance indicators, communication systems, technology, and most importantly, a lead organization.

“Coordination is the key to the success of the National Road Safety Plan. We need strong coordination and regular meeting to check the progress of each pillar within the KPI,” said Bambang Prihartono. He appreciated the work young people are currently making for road safety and sustainable mobility, adding that their interventions are incredible contributions to the acceleration of the implementation of the National Road Safety Plan.

Handhi Adiputra addressed the responsibility of each province and city to have a Local Road Safety Action Plan to support the National Road Safety Plan. “To develop the Local Road Safety Action Plan in the Province/City, it is crucial to synergize the National Government and Local Government in the process,” said Handhi Adiputra. 

Road Safety  and Youth Action 
Broadly speaking about road safety, I always feel joy and sadness. I am sad because road traffic crashes are still the leading cause of death among young people in Indonesia and worldwide. On the other hand, I feel eager to talk about road safety as it shows multi-stakeholders commitment to achieving the target of reducing road traffic fatalities. Road safety has become something I am passionate about and the reason is simple; it’s because we are contributing to the important mission of saving lives. 

In July 2022, I was honored to be invited as a panelist for the UN High-Level Meeting on Road Safety, held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. As the youngest panelist representing youth, I gave an urgent call for stakeholders to involve youth in the decision-making process.

We are #ClaimingOurSpace. It’s not just about youth engagement as a matter of ticking off a box, it’s about being involved and included in a meaningful way. In my speech, I made an analogy where I talked about the need to use "the power of my hands" to cross the street because, in my country of Indonesia, pedestrians are not given the right of way. In the same case, I correlated the power of decision-makers’ hands in creating more impactful changes in saving people's lives.

Our hands determine a lot when it comes to saving lives. But now, the question is, will the decision-makers make the same decision with their hands that continue to negatively affect youth’s lives on the world’s roads?

Understanding the discussion above from the youth perspective, I recognize this is a wake-up call for Indonesia’s National Road Safety Plan. To harmonize the implementation, multi-stakeholders collaboration is needed. Involving youth is a must as they are the generation who will continue the leadership.

Meaningfully engaged youth can lead to better decisions that involved the lives of young people. It can strengthen their commitment and promote a sense of responsibility and citizenship. Youth participation has multiple benefits; it is the basis for change and it can help address global challenges relevant to local communities. Involving young people at all levels of the decision-making process is critical to integrate their experiences and knowledge between generations. It will also promote sustainable and resilient communities.

To follow up on the discussion, I would suggest that youth participation be institutionalized in the form of Road Safety Youth Councils. This can be done by empowering the current Youth in Transport Community (Insan Muda Transportasi) to address the road safety issue in local areas. We will need at least two youth representatives in each road safety pillar to work as equal partners to plan, monitor the progress, evaluate the National Road Safety Plan targets, and ensure the youth needs have been accommodated into the decision-making process. "

Youth is the driver of change and can act as the bridge to the community and the government. They also can accompany Provincial and City governments in developing the Local Road Safety Action Plan with the guidelines of YOURS’s Policymakers Toolkit. 

The YOURS - Youth for Road Safety Policymakers’ Toolkit is a step-by-step guideline on how to involve young people in road safety decision-making processes. As we start the Decade, we call for a paradigm shift to repair trust between governments and youth and build a more cohesive and fairer society to achieve our goals of reducing road traffic fatalities.