Police carry out nationwide crackdown on dangerous driving

This is a really great initiative and I applaud it. In addition to this, they should have a pedestrian safety crackdown teaching spatial awareness and looking at areas where jay-walking is all too common.

Also, if they want to crack down on traffic violations, they should target taxi drivers. Every day, walking to and from the station, I'm almost run down by one of them speeding excessively to get to wherever the hell they're going to.

So, they got 12,000 violations in one day. Imagine if they did it every day. Their revenue problems would be solved and I would feel a lot safer. Sorry, but many Japanese drivers are complete ass holes on the roads and disregard traffic laws completely. I would love to see this blitz continue every day for the next decade to get these rat bags off the roads or make them conform to traffic regulations.

12000 in one day? Nationwide? Im afraid this is only the tip of the iceberg, but still great initiative. I concur with disillusioned, more of these crackdowns. Also I would like to know more detailed statistics as which offense was most comon (texting while driving?) (no seatbelts?) OR .......pause for suspense. (Driving through a RED light?)

Stop signs in Japan are just considered art.

The government’s autumn nationwide traffic-safety campaign is being held until Sept 30.

5 days of "tough" crackdowns. That should show all them bad drivers not to mess around with the Jpolice

Why can't they do this every day?

good, I guess. although lots in the story is bizarre. why only one day "crackdown"? surely this is the pigs daily job? 12,000 violations and only 3 arrests? do we knw if others were fined? This is done in respnse to an accident that happened last April? didn't we just read about a bad accident in yesterday's news?

@BodyBoardBabe

:-)

Although the lights do convey some meaning:

GREEN: full speed ahead, no need to consider hazards YELLOW: put your foot down RED: There might be something or something in the way, put if not, and I've just changed from yellow, go right ahead.

During one lunch hour I counted 5 buses running a red light at a pedestrian crossing immediately in front of koban. The policeman outside saw several pedestrians (some with children) take avoiding action, but did nothing.

Totally pointless in my opinion. Saw it this morning in my city in ONE intersection. They had like 20 people, including cops, to help out cross the mamacharis in triple lane on the sidewalk, no helmets, riding against the traffic, etc. Didn't see any cops enforcing the law or watching for seat belts on, parents driving with kids playing around in the vehicle, yada yada.

I agree with all those who ask 'Why is this not every day?' I lived in a town for four years, and never once saw a police car patrolling. Live in a bigger town now, and see them occasionally, but I am about fed up with how many drivers a day do not even notice me walking on the sidewalk and would hit me if I wasn't watching for them. There are so many small children walking out on those same roads, it scares me that this is all too common.

12,000 violations of which laws? This is more like a money raising exercise, plod hides behind bushes catching speeding motorists (admittedly dangerous) who wouldn't be caught any other day. Seatbelt violations are not such a big deal, and the usual favourite, at least near my place, is not stopping at a train crossing.

Now, 12000 violations, from how many cars monitored? And only 3 arrests? It's bonus season folks and nothing more. Safety campaigns shouldn't be twice a year only. October 1st, business as usual

They should be cracking down on bicyclists too...they are more atrocious than drivers.

Raising awareness of traffic law violations and the damage it inflicts is not done by a bi annual 'campaign. It's done by awareness of the authorities who ensure the laws are enforced throughout the year.

Sounds good, but I don't believe they are checking drivers in Fukuoka just yet. I wasn't looking for any infractions at all, but I saw one driver reading some pages, slowly creeping forward while incredibly patient drivers behind him simply waited. I saw another driver blast through a completely red light about 1-2 seconds after it turned red while there was a pedestrian in the crosswalk. Another car was trying to turn right and had his car at an angle blocking off traffic, but there was still traffic trying to go straight through in the opposite direction. Finally, I noticed several people talking on phones. (A few were on bicycles though.)

Yeah, my impression of Japanese change after moving here....

I hope they catch the many drivers who run red lights...dangerous.

Why is this not done everyday? Well, in a country where speed limits are stupid low. eg: 50 km/h on a 4 lane highway in the countryside. 30 km/h in town. Everybody speeds. Everybody. Little old lady in a Kei? Speeding. I shift out of second gear, on idle, and I am a law breaker. The cops could ping drivers all day long. They could make a fortune and bring the country to its' knees.

Cracking down on licensed drivers because an unlicensed driver killed some people several months ago?

I know some of you are applauding this for other reasons. Yeah, I drive every day and see a lot of stupid stunts. I have actually gotten out of my car to address individuals directly. But I still don't want cops in crackdown mode. A lot of the violations they will get you for make no sense. A prime example is making a full stop at a stop sign and behind the line. Half the time you can see absolutely nothing from there and have to proceed at a crawl anyway, stick your nose out, and pray some fool is not barreling down the road trying to fetch a lost cigarette. So if you have to crawl through anyhow, what difference is it if you start from a dead stop?

What I would like to see is them cracking down on specific violations, and not the easy ones designed for the cops to make easy money. People who zig zag in and out of lanes with inches between cars who hit their turn signals AFTER they have begun the lane change; people like that. We don't need crackdowns on people who ran a red because their view was blocked by a semi-truck, or on people who bumped a bicycle that came screaming out of blind alley.

Does bad driving include running red lights (especially when turning right), having the T.V on and using their phone while driving? If YES, the police seem to be turning a blind eye to those things in the city I live in.

Driving here is pretty damned sensible. Speed limits need to be raised though. If everyone drove the posted speed limit the traffic would turn into an insane mess. People in general have a "speed limit" built into them and it happens to coincide with about 10%to 20% faster than what is posted and is predictably what most drive anyways.

ControlFreak said it all !

But Police here as everything Japanese is very practical. They will wait in quite places and charge for not stopping on Stop signal somewhere with close to zero traffic. In the same time I always wondered why they don't address the rule of yellow-red light crossing (that is you speed up to cross on red)!!!

The answer is - it would disturb traffic - stopping even one car after a big intersection would cause jams so they just don't bother :(

Mumbai that is why I break check the hell out of dudes doing that, I detest tailgaters. If he ends up in my trunk it may teach him or her a lesson.

In the UK we have red light cameras, they take a picture of your number plate, if you run a red light, and then your sent the fine buy post! do they have them in Japan?? if not, get some!! what about speeding cameras? on the roads?

My problem with red light cameras is that if everyone were so perfect about traffic rules, the horrible jams in Japan would be far worse than they already are. Some places a person would never be able to turn right without running old yellows and reds. Its true!

That said, if the speed limits were raised to reasonable rates, I could live with stricter enforcement of running red lights. I could still do without cameras everywhere though. Save surveillance societies for Orwell's books!

I wonder how many of those traffic offenses included parents holding their children on their laps in the front seat or letting them run wild inside the car?

Dangerous driving doesn't just include whats going on outside the car with it in motion

Raising awareness of traffic law violations and the damage it inflicts is not done by a bi annual 'campaign

I hope they catch the many drivers who run red lights...dangerous.

Dangerous driving doesn't just include whats going on outside the car with it in motion

Food for thought: The above opinions are all voted down. Just so you know not everyone shares the same common sense and responsibility to conform to [traffic] regulations.

Good point presto. I guess running red lights is OK as a habit for some. Many people have been killed over the years from drivers doing this though.