Skating Jakarta police on a roll to control traffic

There's the canine unit and the equine unit and now police in car-congested Jakarta, where gridlock is legendary, have set up a new force to combat traffic jams -- the in-line skate unit.

With a run-down public transportation system and some 14 million residents, Jakarta is known to be one of the most difficult cities in Asia to navigate, even for the traffic police who is often stymied by the congestion.

But the 20 officers who have spent the past four weeks weaving through the streets on their skates don't have to worry about gridlock any more.

"We park our vehicles as close as we can to the traffic jams. Then we go into the jam area on rollerblades to direct the traffic," said Commander Sutirto who heads the special squad.

Decked out in helmets, knee and elbow pads, the skating police received a month of intensive training. Many officers said their biggest challenge was staying upright on the city's bumpy and sometimes pock-marked roads.

Some motorists welcomed the rollerblading officers as a time-saving solution, but others said the police needed to crack down on the bad driving that causes the jams rather than just resolve them.

"Motorists must be disciplined. They must not cross into other people's lanes," said motorist Eko Juli.

Getting around sprawling Jakarta and suburbs is a time-consuming and often arduous feat.

Traffic crawls along at a frustrating snail's pace during rush hours and is often chaotic due to the rising number of vehicles and frequent flooding.

Jakarta's governor has promised to tackle the traffic problem by building more busways, a monorail and a subway. But a remedy is unlikely any time soon as it will cost billions of dollars and take several years to complete.

我们听说过警犬队和骑警队，而如今在以堵车而闻名的雅加达，交警部门新组建了一支“轮滑交警小分队”来对付交通拥堵问题。

拥有1400万居民的（印尼首都）雅加达公共交通系统落后陈旧，是亚洲交通状况最恶劣的城市之一，甚至连执勤的交警也常常被困在路上。

但在过去四个星期中，穿着旱冰鞋穿梭于各条街道执勤的20名交警不再担心被堵在路上了。

这支特别小分队的负责人苏特托警官说：“我们尽量把车停在离交通拥堵最近的路段，然后穿着旱冰鞋溜到拥堵的地方去指挥交通。”

轮滑交警分队的成员全副武装，戴着头盔、护膝和护肘，他们在上岗前接受了一个月的集训。很多警察称，穿着冰鞋在该市崎岖不平、有时还坑坑洼洼的路面上站稳是他们面临的最大挑战。

一些驾车者对“轮滑交警”表示欢迎，并认为这是一项省时的举措，但另有一些人认为交警的职责不仅是疏解交通，还应该打击那些引发交通拥堵的违规驾驶行为。

驾车者伊柯•朱力说：“所有的驾车者都应该遵守交通规则，不可随意串并车道。”

雅加达及其周边郊区扩展得杂乱无章，出行是一件费时又费力的事。

在交通高峰期，车流缓慢行进，慢得像只蜗牛，令人厌烦；由于机动车数量的不断增加以及频繁的洪水灾害，雅加达当地的交通经常是混乱不堪。

雅加达市市长已承诺要多修一些专用车道以及一条单轨和地铁线以解决当地的交通问题。不过任何一项措施都不可能在短时间内奏效，因为修建这些设施需花费几十亿美元，而且需要好几年的时间才能完成。

Vocabulary:

run-down: 衰弱的；破败的

gridlock:指“交通拥堵”