Contraflow Often Causes Accidents, Experts Propose Replacement

KatadataOTO – Contraflow is still a mainstay for the police to manage traffic congestion. Especially during the 2025 Eid homecoming season.

This traffic engineering is often implemented by the National Police Traffic Corps (Korlantas Polri) at several points on the toll road.

However, in practice, contraflow often causes accidents. This is because many people are not used to it.

Based on these findings, the police are advised to review the implementation of contraflow on highways.

Photo : NTMC Polri

“What must be considered is the higher potential danger of contraflow compared to one way,” said Sony Susmana, Senior Instructor at SDCI (Safety Defensive Consultant Indonesia), to KatadataOTO on Tuesday (08/04).

According to Sony, the risk of accidents during contraflow implementation is quite high compared to one way.

Therefore, he suggests that the police replace this traffic engineering with a one-way system on highways.

“It should be replaced with a one-way system, because the risk of head-on collisions is smaller. Then, it's clear that a damaged vehicle will stop on the right side,” Sony added.

By reviewing the implementation of contraflow, it is hoped that the number of accidents on toll roads can be reduced.

For your information, many videos have previously circulated of accidents involving travelers in the contraflow lane of the Japek (Jakarta-Cikampek) Toll Road.

For example, in a video uploaded by the Instagram account @mbahkromotrans on Sunday (06/04). A car is seen driving in the contraflow lane of the Cikampek Toll Road at KM 69.

However, not long after, a silver-colored four-wheeled vehicle from the right side suddenly turned left. It then entered the first car's lane.

An accident was unavoidable. Both vehicles were reportedly wrecked and had to be towed by the authorities.

Photo : Divhumas Polri

Meanwhile, last year a major accident also occurred in a contraflow lane. At that time, a Daihatsu Gran Max carrying travelers suddenly switched to the opposite lane at KM 58.

This allegedly happened because the driver of the Daihatsu Gran Max was fatigued during the homecoming trip.

Unfortunately, a Primajasa bus coming from the opposite direction could not avoid it. This resulted in a fatal accident, with the Gran Max catching fire.

The incident resulted in a dozen deaths during the implementation of contraflow in the 2024 Eid holiday.