Unlicensed to Kill

(11/25/2012)

The carnage on Bali's roads continues. The Bali Post report that, once again, the scourge of children operating motor vehicles on Bali’s highways has once again claimed the life of a school-age child.

The latest report comes from the regency of Buleleng in North Bali where a high school boy is dead and two others badly injured in a collision between two motorcycles on Jalan Raya Singaraja – Seririt at the village of Anturan on Thursday, November 22, 2012.

Dead is a 14-year-old boy, Kadek Karuna, of the village of Sudaji in the sub-district of Sawan. Meanwhile the two students who have been warded in local hospitals are 16-year-old Putu Dodik Suardika of Kaliasem village and 13-year-old Sawal Saputra of Kalinukbuk.

The calamity occurred when Putu Dodik Suardika, driving a Suzuki motorcycle with license plate DK7912 UG, accelerated from the west colliding with another motorcycle DK 8539UF, a Honda driven by Saputra and carrying Karuna, cut off the other bike.

The resulting collision sent the motorbikes and their passengers hurtling down the pavement. Putu Dodik suffered wrist injuries. Meanwhile Saputra incurred serious head injuries that included a broken jaw, while Karuna died at the scene of the accident.

The police spokesman for the Buleleng, I Nyoman Widastra, told the press the accident was due to the drivers being "less than cautious" in the operation of their motorcycles. Widastra, however, apparently made no mention of the fact that both drivers were operating vehicles without licenses and Indonesia's minimum age of 17-years  for drive licensing.

It also remains unclear if  the parents of either boy or the owner-of-record of either motorcycle will be charged with contributory negligence or manslaughter for enabling children to drive on the public highway.

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