On Wednesday 3 January 2024, a bus carrying a group of teachers from Malang hit the rear of a heavy truck loaded with concrete piles at kilometre 567 of the Ngawi to Solo toll road. Two people died, the bus conductor and the truck's assistant, and several others were injured. The preliminary scene examination said the bus was suspected of veering too far left as it tried to overtake the truck (JPNN, 2024). The investigation was still under way, so we do not discuss the cause of that crash.
Crashes like this are a good reason to reread the rules that govern the human side of public transport: drivers' working time and the company's safety management system.
Legal Basis
Law No. 22 of 2009 on Road Traffic and Transport sets two core obligations for public transport companies. Article 90 requires companies to comply with and enforce provisions on working time, rest time, and driver changeovers. Public vehicle drivers may work at most 8 hours a day, must rest for at least half an hour after 4 consecutive hours of driving, and in certain cases may be employed for up to 12 hours a day including a 1-hour rest. Article 204(1) requires public transport companies to establish, implement, and improve a safety management system guided by the national general plan for road traffic and transport safety, while Article 204(2) requires public vehicles to carry a device that reports crashes. Oversight of safety programmes takes the form of audits, inspections, and observation and monitoring (Article 206) (Pemerintah Republik Indonesia, 2009).
What PM 85/2018 Requires
Transport Ministerial Regulation No. PM 85 of 2018 on Safety Management Systems for Public Transport Companies details the Article 204 obligation. The system must be in place within 3 months of the operating permit being granted and reported to the permit issuer (Article 4). Article 5(1) sets out 10 elements: commitment and policy, organisation, hazard and risk management, vehicle maintenance and repair facilities, documentation and data, competence development and training, emergency response, internal accident reporting, monitoring and evaluation, and performance measurement. Companies that fail to establish and implement it face a written warning, permit suspension, or permit revocation (Article 18) (Kementerian Perhubungan [Kemenhub], 2018).
Annex I lists fatigue and stress among the human factors that must be identified, including dangerous behaviour such as driving while tired, sleepy, or drunk. The sample procedure in Annex II goes further, with half an hour of rest after 3 hours of driving (Kemenhub, 2018).
Evidence on Sleepiness
A systematic review and meta-analysis of 17 studies with more than 70,000 participants found that self-reported sleepiness at the wheel was associated with roughly 2.5 times the risk of a motor vehicle crash (pooled odds ratio 2.51; 95% CI 1.87 to 3.39). Heterogeneity between studies was high and exposure was self-reported, so the exact size of the effect should be read with care (Bioulac et al., 2017).
Gaps We See
First, the limits in Article 90 cap working time; they do not measure sleepiness. A driver within the 8-hour limit can still be drowsy after too little sleep, so hours limits need a pre-departure fitness check alongside them. Second, Annex I of PM 85/2018 also reads high working hours as a sign of driver experience (Kemenhub, 2018). In our view experience and workload should be recorded as two separate things, because they can move in opposite directions. Third, the phrase "in certain cases" in the 12-hour exception is not defined in that article, so companies need to set their own rules on when the exception may be used and how its risk is controlled.
Fourth, Article 90 and PM 85/2018 are addressed to public transport companies. Manufacturers, miners, or distributors running their own fleets do not always fall within that definition, yet their drivers face the same fatigue hazard.
Compliance Implications
- Put fatigue and sleepiness on the hazard and risk register, with controls, under the hazard and risk management element (Kemenhub, 2018).
- Build rosters and changeovers that meet Article 90, record actual driving hours, and set written criteria for the 12-hour exception (Pemerintah Republik Indonesia, 2009).
- Check drivers' fitness before departure, including questions about sleep and drowsiness (Bioulac et al., 2017).
- For non-public company fleets, apply the same framework voluntarily or refer to ISO 39001:2012 on road traffic safety management systems (International Organization for Standardization [ISO], 2012).
How Nusa Safety Helps
Nusa Safety helps companies write driver and journey management procedures through SOP and technical guideline development, and facilitates fatigue hazard identification with operations teams through the risk assessment and JSA workshop. Nusa Safety issues internal training certificates only.
This article is general information and not legal or professional advice for any specific case.
References
- Bioulac, S., Micoulaud-Franchi, J.-A., Arnaud, M., Sagaspe, P., Moore, N., Salvo, F., & Philip, P. (2017). Risk of motor vehicle accidents related to sleepiness at the wheel: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sleep, 40(10), zsx134. https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsx134
- International Organization for Standardization. (2012). Road traffic safety (RTS) management systems - Requirements with guidance for use (ISO Standard No. 39001:2012). https://www.iso.org/standard/44958.html
- JPNN. (2024, January 3). Kecelakaan bus dan truk di Tol Ngawi, 2 meninggal dunia [Bus and truck crash on the Ngawi toll road, 2 dead]. JPNN.com. https://m.jpnn.com/news/kecelakaan-bus-dan-truk-di-tol-ngawi-2-meninggal-dunia
- Kementerian Perhubungan Republik Indonesia. (2018). Peraturan Menteri Perhubungan Nomor PM 85 Tahun 2018 tentang Sistem Manajemen Keselamatan Perusahaan Angkutan Umum [Regulation on safety management systems for public transport companies]. https://dishub.bantulkab.go.id/storage/dishub/menu/171/Permenhub-No-PM-85-Tahun-2018-tentang-SMKPAU.pdf
- Pemerintah Republik Indonesia. (2009). Undang-Undang Nomor 22 Tahun 2009 tentang Lalu Lintas dan Angkutan Jalan [Law on road traffic and transport]. https://jdih.kemenkeu.go.id/api/download/fulltext/2009/22TAHUN2009UU.htm
