Police crackdown nets over 15,000 tailgating violations in 2019

If the laws were actually being strictly enforced damn near EVERY driver, myself included here, should be ticketed!

The laws are written that there should be 10 meters of space between vehicles for every 10 km's of speed, meaning of course, driver's are supposed to be at least put 80 meters of space between themselves and the vehicle in front of them.

Reality....a hell of a lot different!

I had some idiot road rager break-checking and cutting me off a couple of years ago. This was because I blasted him with the horn for cutting me off and nearly causing a major accident. At the end he swung across the two lanes of a main road, got out of his car and started screaming at me to get out of my car. This was during a morning peak hour. I recorded the whole incident on my dash-mounted Go-Pro and took it to the cops. I showed them the footage and they just stared at me as if to say, "So what?" They we more interested in checking my licence and residency status than doing anything about the road rage loon. His car licence plate and his face were clearly visible in the video, but they did nothing. I guess it wasn't during a crackdown period. (roll eyes)

How about an add on TV to educate people about the safe distance as here in Kansai tailgating is the norm and any safe space I leave between me and the car in front is used by other drivers to squeeze in.

Disillusioned

Cops would be more helpful and sympathetic now than when you encountered the road rager.

Yes speed kills right along with reckless driving. Just follow the simple rules of driving in Japan and you won't have problems. Be polite and patient. Driving like a maniac makes it dangerous for everyone.

I hate tailgaters with a passion.

Every morning, guaranteed, I get tailgated on a residential road that a bunch of kids use to get to school even though I'm going 10 km over the limit.

These sub-humans need to leave for work earlier or get a life.

Also, the cops also need to start working here. Taking my tax money and doing nothing.

I really don't get the mentality of tailgaters... sometimes they're not even tailgating to apply pressure for you you to move out the way. I often see cars on the left lane driving a couple of metres away from the truck in front of them... are they trying to save fuel by riding in the wake of the vehicle in front of them? They will need super fast reflexes should the driver in front of them suddenly hit the brakes.

I spend 3-4 hours a day driving, and see countless cases of tailgating every single day.

Tailgating like running red lights  are National Sports in Japan sadly!

And 15,000...…...are you kidding me, going by what I experience & others here I would say there are millions everyday committing this offence!!

Some of the things I have seen drivers do coming up from behind & "passing" utterly defy written explanation, the only way for others to comprehend what happened is if there is video of the scene.

The main reason these things happen imo is because cops do NOTHING until there is an accident, they do precious little patrolling or preventative policing.

Hell I laugh because I am good at predicting when the cops will be posted up waiting to catch people on their phones & not coming to a complete stop somewhere. If the weather is hot, cold or raining they WONT be there, if the sun is shinning & weather is comfortable there is a good chance they will be enjoying the weather...I mean doing their jobs LOL!!!

Tailgating is indeed dangerous but quite a bit of it derives from the awful habit drivers in Japan have of hogging the fast lane on multiple lane roads and highways.  And then going slowly.

Cope should enforce the "keep left, overtake right" rule as vigorously as this.

GW - And 15,000...…...are you kidding me, going by what I experience & others here I would say there are millions everyday committing this offence!!

That's 15,000 caught and fined. I used to drive 2-4 hours every day on a main route on the outskirts of Tokyo during peak hours when I lived in Japan. I would see three or four police cars a week, but they were in transit. In the four years of driving the same route 5 days a week I only saw two or three occasions where a police car or motorbike cop had stopped a driver. However, the driving offenses I would see every day were astonishing. At least half of the drivers were using their phones for either texting, playing games or talking on the phone. I remember seeing one truck driver with an iPad on his steering wheel, most likely playing a game. Then, there were the countless speeders and red light runners and, the never ending precession of reckless tipper drivers swerving in and out of traffic like they were on a Le Mans circuit. The manners of 50% of Japanese drivers are atrocious! They are this way due to the passive policing and they keep getting away with their law-breaking and reckless driving habits. They caught 15,000 tail-gaters last year. I'd imagine that number would increase by at least 5 times if there was a greater police presence and more strict policing of road rules.

I hate really tailgaters. Whenever I have a tailgater on my behind when I'm driving, I slow it down to whatever the speed limit is. I say this because I'll drive 50 in a 40 or 60 in a 50 k.p.h. zone and still be tailgated, so I slow it down to the speed limit is. I think this action infuriates such drivers as they will be breathing down the back of my neck when I've done it. I've never had one stop me and challenge me, and if they ever do I'll request a police officer's opinion on the matter.

I've heard some people say they like to hit the brakes suddenly, but I consider this reckless and dangerous to do. Just gradually slow it down to what the speed limit is and drive no slower and no faster than the speed marked for that portion of roadway. It really does work and you've got the law on your side.

Driving in Japan is an exercise in high stress. It's expensive, crowded and actually quite inconvenient in larger cities like Tokyo. I got sick of the shaken, the gas prices, kousoku payments, parking prices...home and away... and overall cost of riding and maintaining a car. Today I have a couple of nice road bicycles and use public transport. Every time I read a story on driving problems in Japan, I just smile, these days, it has little to do with me, anymore. Not having a car is limiting, but way less stressful. The other thing is because I haven't had a car of late, my driver's license is gold, whatever that means...

These sub-humans need to leave for work earlier or get a life.

I do! Every day! No stress! Besides the drunks walking on the road!

Suggestion for Abe to get some quick cash: post all those thousands of useless cops everywhere around bus crossings. No need for tax hike ! And then, keep an eye on those moronic moms on electric bikes with 2 or 3 kids who can't be bothered to slow down or use their bell !

I read through this article, but what I didn't see is the set distance allowed between cars on the roads or expressways. Sometimes you have people driving so close behind that is you were to slowly come to a stop, it might cause an accident. I don't mean "brake check", I meant slow down for a turn or if the car in front of you suddenly stopped, causing you to stomp on your brake, thats it!

I learned that you must keep one car length between your car and the one in front of you, 2 car lengths in rain and 1-2 truck lengths in snow. This is called "reaction time space". I practice this whenever I drive, but people would see that space in front of me and cut in, thus reducing the reaction time in case of an accident. Basically, if you can't see their license plate in your rear view mirror, they're far too close!

The police should set the car distance and make it known to the public.

Tailgating is ubiquitous in Japan, and it seems that the only way to avoid being tailgated is to go at least 20 km/hr over the limit all the time (or 30-40 on the big highways). I divide tailgaters into three categories: (1) habitual tailgaters, who do it in an apparently random way out of habit; (2) opportunistic tailgaters, who get close at key spots like traffic intersections, etc., and (3) aggressive tailgaters, who engage in "get outta my way" driving as if they own the road (these are the worst). I usually drop my speed to the limit or just below when followed by people of category 1 or 3. Sudden braking is not very effective, but flashing the brake lights a bit can help.

At the end he swung across the two lanes of a main road, got out of his car and started screaming at me to get out of my car. 

if something like this ever happen to me I would think about start recording and blast the horn, it would get a lot of attention (hopefully from the cops) and it might infuriate the beast even more, making him kick your car or anything else that leads to arrest as it seems the simple act of putting everyone's life in danger in the middle of the road is not a big issue here in this place.

If the laws were actually being strictly enforced damn near EVERY driver, myself included here, should be ticketed!

If the police followed me, I'd likely lose my license in a day. Every day.

Mostly for speeding violations, but speed is rarely strictly enforced.

That's what happens when the DMV tests people on how to pass their driving road course, not testing on if they can drive in real situations on the actual roads.

In addition to police not patrolling and actually enforcing the roads.

You combine that with utter incompetence from the general population and you end up with horrible conclusions.

All of this should be surprising to no one.

As the Joker asked: "Is It Just Me Or Is It Getting Crazier Out There?"

I say this because I'll drive 50 in a 40 or 60 in a 50 k.p.h. zone and still be tailgated, so I slow it down to the speed limit is.

And here is the typical problem. People who don’t have the sense to go with the flow of traffic whether it be 5, 10, 15 or even 20 over the speed limit. I don’t tailgate most of the time but if I’m on a two lane road, left lane is going 80 and some dingaling in front is going 83 and won’t get over I will get closer, but not dangerously closer. Flashing your brights is becoming more popular I see.

I learned that you must keep one car length between your car and the one in front of you, 2 car lengths in rain and 1-2 truck lengths in snow. This is called "reaction time space". I practice this whenever I drive, but people would see that space in front of me and cut in, thus reducing the reaction time in case of an accident. Basically, if you can't see their license plate in your rear view mirror, they're far too close!

You are in effect guilty of tailgating if you are only allowing "one" car length between yourself and another vehicle when you are travelling on the expressways here!

There is no way in hell you can "react" in enough time to stop!

I wrote earlier here what the posted guidelines are, 10 meters per 10 km of speed! SO if you are going 80 km/h and are one car length behind someone YOU are guilty of tailgating!

Unfortunately there are plenty of stubborn idiots who just sit in the outside lane forcing you to undertake them.

Nah, they aint being stubborn, just ignorant of their surroundings, and that is even worse!

It happens to me everyday here on my drive home, everyone is puttin' along at 100 km in the left when some idiot decides to change lanes for lord only knows what reason, and drops their speed to about 70.

They have ZERO idea of the reason why people are laying on their horns in protest!

Are stop signs just art?

Are stop signs just art?

Yes!

Good now how about cracking down on red light runners...

Only when they start cracking down on people who dont realize the arrow has turned green and are still playing with their smart-phones until it turns red!

I drive an European vehicle with extremely strong red fog lights in the back. It is not illegal to turn them in and burn the eyes of anyone tailgating you, as far as I know. I'm using this feature daily..

To: ebisen

Lemme know what European vehicle you are driving so I can buy the same model.

Merci

Jacobo

Audi RS6.

Tailgating is indeed dangerous but quite a bit of it derives from the awful habit drivers in Japan have of hogging the fast lane on multiple lane roads and highways. And then going slowly. Cope should enforce the "keep left, overtake right" rule as vigorously as this.

Amen!

I wrote earlier here what the posted guidelines are, 10 meters per 10 km of speed! SO if you are going 80 km/h and are one car length behind someone YOU are guilty of tailgating!

Uh-oh! He's using all-caps! He must be serious!!

Anyway, I don't carry a measuring tape with me when I'm driving, so if I'm breathing down your neck, move over!

Yubaru: Curious to know where you found the 10m/10kph law. It’d be good to have handy.

My car has distronic and basically illuminates a warning sign when you’re too close to the car in front of you based on your speed.

its quite useful rather than estimating distances on the go

That this story warrants a headline tells me that Japan is not a very violent country, overall. I can't imagine anyone over here would try to turn this into news, not when there are so many people dying every day from gun violence.

There was a time, long ago, that this so called "tail-gating", resulted in less wind resistance for the follower in order to keep up the then high-speed chase (100mph+).. But those times have long since past, and the etique involved in such practise, long since forgotten. Nowadays, yobs have taken over and are a danger to all.