“SLEEPING POLICEMAN” COULD BE DANGEROUS FOR MOTOR BIKE USER

(This essay was created in 2008 when I was still in my 3rd semester. I publish it here now, complete with its mistakes that had been revised by my lecturer. It’s 95% the same as the original one. I only modified it a little^_^
By the way this is my very first essay on that period. No wonder that the result is so…so… uhmm well…)


In Indonesia a phrase “Sleeping Policeman” or “Polisi Tidur” can have two meanings; one is a police that really sleep and another is asphalt or a cement heap set horizontally on the surface of the road. John M. Echols and Hassan Shadily mentioned it in Indonesian-English Dictionary the 3rd edition (1989) as “traffic bump”. The function is to hamper the speed of vehicles. Usually it can be found easily in the alley or “Kampung”* streets where many people walk around on. For instance, you can go to Sumbersari, near our campus*, to find “Sleeping Policeman”. For those kinds of little narrow street, it will be so dangerous for people if there are many vehicles run speedily. Therefore, they need guard of “Mr. Sleeping Policeman”. However, there is some main road that sets up “sleeping policeman”. One of the most remarkable examples for me (because I often pass it) is Cengger Ayam Street. For such a big road or non-alley road, it has many “sleeping policeman” on the surface.

Even though the real purpose is good, to hamper the speed of vehicles and protect the safety of pedestrian (usually no alley have has sidewalk), “sleeping policeman” can turn to be so dangerous for motorbike user. Especially, if it is set up too much many and in a close distance one to another.

For example, if you come to my home at Candi Kalasan, riding a motorbike, you have to be very careful. If you’re just a green bill who have only few experiences in riding motorbike, you have to be twice more extra careful. It is because the roads near my house have so many “sleeping policeman”. The worse is the distance between one to another is enough too close and some of the piles are high enough.

I think a car or another four-wheel vehicle is not too be affected by “sleeping policeman”, but a motorbike is a different case since it really depends on the balance. I once experienced falling from a motorbike because I stepped on my brake paddle pedal when I passed through on the “sleeping policeman”. The next thing happened when I lost my balance and fell to ground.

Another example of bad experience was when I first learned how to ride a motorbike near my grandmother house. I learned when the street is was more quiet so I thought it will would be safer. Obviously, the darkness made me was not able unable to see those “sleeping policemen”. Finally the motorbike lost its balance when it passed through the street bump, and hit a car parked on side of the street.
Thus, there is an anecdote among my friends that police are dangerous while sleeping and twice more dangerous while awake…

* Kampung : residential area for lower classes in town or city.
* my campus is Malang State University

COMMENT FROM AND FOR MYSELF
My lecturer had us to make an essay talking about how bad the street condition around our house. I knew that most of my friends would write about the broken road, the crowded road, and the slippery road in rainy season. I wanted to write something different. So, I decided to bring “Sleeping Policeman” or traffic bump as my main theme. My prediction was correct. No one had the same idea as mine…but…

Yeah…this is so humiliating. I was too haste in finishing this essay that I’ve made so many ridiculous mistake. The most ridiculous was the use of the word “sleeping policeman”. I know that I’m not supposed to use too many Indonesian expressions in English essay. It would be better if I used the phrase “traffic bump” rather than “sleeping policeman”. However, I thought it wouldn’t be too interesting. So, I kept using “sleeping policeman”. Traffic bump in Indonesian is “Polisi Tidur”, and I thought it would be very funny if I translate it into English, “Sleeping policeman”… I thought my lecturer thought that it was very funny too that from 6-10 rate, he gave me 6.5. Sigh…

Do you have another comment or advice for this essay? Just put your comments here or send them to duniaempus@gmail.com. Thank you for your attention ^_^