Considering the countless news reports and the fact that there was a month-long trial period for it, Jakartans should already know by now that the odd-even traffic rule has officially come into effect today along with an Rp 500K fine for violating it.
And yet motorists have already been caught violating the rule, with Merdeka reporting that 10 cars were caught by 8 am – and that was only on Jalan MH Thamrin.
Funnily enough, national news outlets today reported on the various excuses used by violators of the rule, and we don’t think any of them are good enough.
Take this guy, who Metro TV reported was adamant that the police officer who stopped him got today’s date wrong.
“Today is August 31 pak, my car is odd (license plate ends with odd number),” said the unnamed violator to the police officer, who had to clarify the date with a nearby journalist before fining the violator.
And then there are those who claim to simply forget today’s date, like this woman who told Republika, “I knew about it (the rule), but I forgot the date.”
Last but not least, there’s the weakest excuse of them all, courtesy of a man who claims to be an out of towner.
“Aduh I’m from Bandung, I didn’t know about odd-even,” said a violator named Putra, as quoted by Kompas.
Kompas noted that Putra’s car had a B license plate, AKA it’s registered in Jakarta. But even if he is from Bandung, he wouldn’t have been exempt from the rule anyway.
In case you don’t already know about the odd-even rule, we’ll help you save your excuses with this handy explainer: the odd-even rule covers Jalan Sisingamaharaja, Jalan Sudirman, Jalan MH Thamrin, Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat, and parts of Jalan Gatot Subroto from 7am to 10am and 4:30pm to 8:30pm on weekdays. Vehicles with odd-numbered plates will be allowed to use those roads during rush hours on odd calendar dates and vice-versa.
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