Police officer hit by bikers fleeing from traffic summons

I'm always surprised by the number of illegal bikers in Japan. They put those extremely noisy exhaust pipes on them and bend the number plate up so it can't be read from behind. Then, there are those bosozoku twits that ride around in packs just to annoy everyone. Do they have traffic patrols in Japan? Or, is it only bicycle registrations and teenagers' school ID cards they are interested in? I often see the cops checking bicycles and asking teenagers for their school IDs, but rarely see them stopping these annoying monsters on their mosquito bikes!

This is SUCH a joke. "they switched lanes on a road where it was illegal to do so." As a biker, this is the dumbest rule out there. And I have had friends ticketed and fined for this sort of thing. A bike has AT LEAST double the acceleration of most cars and needs 90% less space to pass. A bike can pass when cars can not. A bike is faster and there is no need to be uselessly stuck behind some slow driver. I am not endorsing driving 100kph and weaving in and out of traffic or other dangerous bike riding, but passing on most roads where it is forbidden for cars is not a problem and not dangerous for a motorcycle. The fact that cops waste their time with this is amazing when people run stop signs and red lights and talk on the phone and watch TV and let their kids jump around and cops do NOTHING about that.

He only sustained minor injuries. Um, it could have been worse. From now on, I think, just to make reckless motorbikers stop fussing, he should be more on the lookout, say, taking out a gun or ready to do so at least. Nevertheless, it's not common for Japanese cops to hold their gun in such a traffic stop. At any rate, it's good for the officer having escaped death in any way.

Robert: It's not a stupid rule. I saw an accident just last week in which a motorbike tried to pass a bunch of cars stopped at a red light so that he could be at the front of the traffic when the light turned green. Unfortunately for him he, for some stupid reason, didn't think a car might turn into the oncoming lane at the intersection and so he hit the breaks and tried to turn in behind one of the cars, falling off his bike. Fortunately the oncoming car saw him and stopped and he didn't appear all that injured as he got up and walked over to his bike. Unfortunately his bike had hit the car he tried to pull in behind, damaging the bumper, and more unfortunately it was very close to a police station -- and this seems to be a 'safety week' or something because they are out on street corners pretty often. Anyway, point is, while the fool I mention was engaging in the dangerous bike riding you mention, it is still the same kind of thinking and behaviour. It stinks to be stuck behind a slow-moving car, but as long as that's the law, it's the law, and there's good reason for it. I've seen far worse accidents from people trying to break this law as well.

Glad the officer is okay, but the police really need to do more and crack down on the illegalities so many scooter/motorcycle riders commit. It's amazing what they'll choose to ignore.

Fines and punishements for offenders are too linient that's why they are not scared to disobey rules and regulations. If police can imposed a very stiffed fine for illegal parkings, why cant they do so with bikers who even make noise pollutions whenever they wished.

"...and so he hit the breaks..."

Quite impossible; BREAKS are for coffee.

I'm not sure what the traffic laws are here, but I've always thought a motorbike was part of traffic and had to follow the same rules of the road as do cars. Instead, I see them shooting the gaps between both stopped and moving cars to get a better spot at traffic lights at great risk to their own lives. Saw a young guy take off someone's side mirror doing that one time and nearly wreck himself in the process. He stopped to hash things out with the car's driver so at least he had that going for him. So maybe this stuff is actually legal in Japan, but it's not smart at all. Don't assume the burden for a cyclist's safety is all on the car driver or that your two-wheeled experiences make your reflexes and judgment superior. Your motorbike may be smaller, quicker to accelerate and more maneuverable, but the body atop it squashes the same as a cat's under a car's tires.