Indonesian trains spray "roof riders" with identifying paint
The Indonesian state railway is installing paint-sprayers to douse "roof riders" who ride atop the trains into Jakarta -- Indonesia lacks a cheap and reliable way to get into and out of the city, and many commute illegally on the roof (the Jakarta Post says more than 50 roof riders have been killed in the past two years).
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After several failed attempts to discourage roof riders over years, the state owned railway company PT Kereta Api will from next week douse them with a coloured liquid so that officers can identify them when they get off the train, the Jakarta Post said."We will confiscate their IDs and give them a ticket," Kereta Api regional spokesman Akhmad Sujadi was quoted as saying.
"We will send a copy of the ticket to their family, their local neighbourhood unit head, their employer, or, if they're students, their headmasters," added Sujadi, who described the move as "unique."
(Image: A child looks through the window, a Creative Commons Attribution photo from Danumurthi Mahendra's Flickr stream)
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whatever happened to cables stretched 2 feet over the top, to electrified roof tops, armed guards who shoot to kill???
Not exactly unique. In Japan, most convenience stores have orange paint-filled baseballs that can be thrown at shoplifters or robbers, so that they can be easily identified later.
The technique was developed in 1968, after the Tokyo University student uprisings, where police, wanting to later identify students, many of whom were wearing allergy/cold/surgical masks, would throw eggs at rioters.
Why is the photo above not representing the roof riders?
One of my great, unrealistic wishes for the world is that law enforcement in all nations would focus on worrying about people that hurt people, and not so much on people that might do something potentially harmful to themselves/not pay their rail fare. But, yeah.
Sandalian -- find me a photo of a roof-rider that's CC licensed and I'll include it. That's a photo of an Indonesian train, and it's the closest I could find.
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http://www.asianpacificpost.com/portal2/c1ee8c441814a61f0118192ceff000df_Asia_Beat__Feb_14_2008.do.html
Not CC licensed, though.
I've been on trains in jakarta and by golly, they're like a bloody oven inside, no aircon, the fans rarely work and the windows only open a few inches.
I would have loved to have been able to get onto the roof
Thats pretty nifty, sad thing is that these guys usually can't afford to pay, its not that they're just sponging off the railways.
As for electric wires, the trains in mumbai are run by high tension electric wires overhead with less than 5 feet of clearance between the train roof and the cables, people still ride the roofs.
Western Railway in India has a term for rush hour trains 'super crush load' they aren't kidding.
The roof-riders problem has been around for years! Usually, it's not really about the lack of affordable transport though...
During peak hours/holiday or soccer season, there isn't enough space in trains/buses so people tend to pile up on the train in order to get to where they want to go.
Seems like simple I-beam frames with about 6 inches of clearance above the trains roof every 500 meters or so would be a lot cheaper (and far more effective) than the fancy paint system.
If the Indonesion authorities are reading this, I freely donate my design to your country. I just ask that you refer to them as Bill's Patented Roof Rider Scrapers.
Remember to send someone up top every once in a while to hose off all the bloody ankle stumps.
@Leafdot:
Totally agree with you there, I mean yes we live with consequences. But in the case happened in Indonesia (and perhaps in most third world countries), this is mainly due to the inabilities of the government providing fair/good public transportation facilities.
That combined with law enforcement problems, urbanization, poverty, and other social matters, makes it really a global issue.
Oil instead of paint would be a better deterrent. And fragant oil would be just peachy.
50 in two years huh? I wonder out of how many roof riders? I wonder how it stacks up to driving into down danger wise.
I think this is more of a "make people pay for stuff" deal rather than "lets save people from their own stupid selves" deal.
What happens if the paint blows in the open windows and doorways and sticks to bystanders?