For example, beginner Indonesian students would think that halte bus means “bus stop”. In fact anyone who has traveled behind a bus on Jakarta’s streets knows that the real meaning is something like “only place where you can be certain that the bus will not stop”.

Perempatan is another one. This seems to mean intersection but for buses it really means “place where you can stop and wait until the bus is full while blocking all other traffic”.

Traffic laws can also be a bit of a mystery. I am still not sure whether traffic lights apply to buses or not, because the same ones that wait at the intersection until they are full then move off regardless of whether the light is red. Motorcycles too seem to have a permanent “jalan terus (go ahead) as long as you can get away with it without being killed” permission under the road rules.

There have been many calls for additional infrastructure to reduce traffic congestion, and the fact that it has not yet developed primarily due to lack of financing. I think there is a way for Indonesia to save money on transportation infrastructure.

Anyone who has traveled on a toll road will know that the left lane is surplus to requirements because nobody uses it. There is a saving there. Undisciplined drivers (i.e. 95 percent of them by my reckoning) prefer to stay in the right hand lanes even when traveling slowly. That is unless the traffic is absolutely macet (congested) when even the emergency stopping lane gets used, even though, or perhaps because, that is illegal. Indeed if a left lane is in fact required perhaps it should also be designated as an emergency stopping lane and so more people would use it.