A truck driver who followed an ambulance through a red light in Tokyo on Monday has been arrested.
According to police, the incident occurred at around 12:40 p.m. Monday along Meiji-dori, Fuji TV reported. The ambulance was responding to an emergency call and went through the red light. The truck driver, a man in his 20s, was closely following the ambulance and also went through the red light.
A police patrol spotted the truck and gave chase, along with two other police cars.
The driver has been charged with violating the Road Traffic Law.
© Japan Today
24 Comments
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NCIS Reruns
I've seen this a million times --- drivers pulling behind emergency vehicles to make better time. Rules of the road in Japan are arbitrary at best.
Michael Jackson
I see red light runners every single day. Apparently red doesn't mean stop, it means accelerate before the crosswalk is full of pedestrians.
Do the hustle
This is only news because he was following an ambulance. The other millions of red lights run by drivers every day are not news.
Luddite
Red lights are optional for many drivers.
lucabrasi
It’s only news because it was caught on camera. That’s how it works these days.
Even if it happened in deepest Canada, or Lithuania, if they’ve got footage, you can bet it’ll be on the TV news.
Ascissor
Is this what they call "ambulance chasing"?
starpunk
What did this trucker think he was doing? What did he get out of this? Big dummy.
Shenjingbing
If only police were as aggressive towards ticketing the countless drivers who step on the gas 100 feet before red lights and cruise right on thru.
Ah_so
Plenty of room for mini roundabouts.
Theymight not understand them, but not did anyone understand the first roundabout yet they are now all over the world.
Althoughif you think you have the hang of roundabouts, do not Google the "magic roundabout swindon" - acknowledged as the most complex in the world.
Omachi
Surely that truck driver was applying the brakes to avoid hitting the ambulance and simply didn't notice the red light - given the snail pace at which emergency vehicles transverse intersections. (end snark)
Disillusioned
Japan is the country of traffic signals. There are over 200,000 traffic signals in Japan, more than double the US. If you drive for 30 minutes in Tokyo, you will go through 30-40 traffic signals. It's inevitable people will drive through red lights, just because there are so many of them. If Japan was to install red light cameras, they could pay off the public debt within 12 months.
Kobe White Bar Owner
just an interesting fact for some of you. Roundabouts came to japan this year 2 in Kobe think they call them "rotation".
UlsterBoy
Truck Drivers excuse... it was an emergency ?
Kaerimashita
And this ones excuse should have been "I dion't remember, I was drunk" or even "the light and noise of the ambulance made me angry so I followed it".
IzzyBalu
Your country is doing ''well'' when this makes the news..
Kaerimashita
Weird. Running red lights is common driving practice in Japan.
Jonathan Prin
Roundabouts are so easy to use when informed.
Explain for a year at national level through education ads if you want progress.
Indeed small rounabouts are very efficient.
Even the Etoile roundabout is fun to drive !
You can say all what you want, progress involves changes.
Shenjingbing
I'd like to know if Japanese are taught in driving schools that it's better to step on the gas when you think you might make it thru a red light rather than apply the brake to stop (and admit defeat). The majority of Japanese go to driving schools to learn, and I have often noticed Japanese having an easier time with going faster than slowing down - whether it's in a vehicle to beat the red light, on a bike to squeeze between a person and hard obstacle rather than going behind the person, etc.
Mirai Hayashi
this is news?
Jonathan Prin
Need roundabouts. Traffic lights are for most very inefficient. Japan light years beyond others for that matter.
AgentX
From what I have witnessed over the years, the Japanese are not flexible-minded enough to adapt to using roundabouts. The would rather just gaman and stick to the old ways (even if the old ways are not working).
starpunk
We're getting roundabouts built in some American cities and they ain't worth a damn. They cause more accidents than prevent them, and in the midst of the roundabouts you have NOTHING. No Piccadilly Circus like London is famous for - NOTHING. It's just a waste. The problem's been that some idiots can't comprehend 4-way traffic lights and these roundabouts make the situation even worse. Of course I'm talking from an American perspective where we drive on the right side of the road, but this is my 2 cents worth.
JonathanJo
Can't afford the space for roundabouts. And J drivers wouldn't understand them.