There were an endless stream of people at the crosswalk. I thought pedestrians would stop for me.

FINALLY, this is probably one of the more scary things in day to day life in Japan, drivers having no regard for pedestrian crossings!

More than a stern warning the cops needs to start issuing fines.

How about all those people crossing and especially the cyclists deliberately racing across the pedestrian crossing well after their light has turned red ? I encounter this every day when driving.

At least when there are no light, pedestrians look to see if there is any approaching danger. A far more dangerous situation seems to be when there are lights. When there are lights at the crossing, pedestrians often trust the green pedestrian light and cross without checking the actual traffic situation.

gaijintraveller,

pedestrians often trust the green pedestrian light and cross without checking the actual traffic situation.

Totally agree with what you say. Most Japanese just blindly cross a crossing without even a glance to judge the traffic, and in many cases peering down on their smart phones. When waiting on a left turn at a crossing, many times pedestrians and cyclists advance from behind the car and not the marked crossing and then feel bad if you didn't see them coming. These people have no idea of what drivers in Japan have to put up with.

vic. M

It's not only cyclists.

Gaijintraveller is spot on. This is how japanese kids learn to cross the street: look at mom or dad. When they say go, blindly run across the road. What happens when they become adults? The traffic lights become mom and dad. And you never disobey the traffic light.

I jaywalk but at least I know what I'm doing and i use my common sense. And thats how i plan to teach my kids.

He actually thought people would stop for him! People stop for absolutely nothing. Must have just gotten here.

His comments sum up the stubborn entitled mentality of elderly drivers here. Drove out onto a crossing while

it was green and expected people to stop for him...

Back in England at the moment and have been shocked a couple of times by cars stopping for me while I was waiting at a zebra crossing.

After years in Japan, you start to forget that that’s the law....

The annoying thing for me in Japan is that whenever I stop at a crossing (without lights) the pedestrians seem to think it is a plot to try and run them down as soon as they step out into the street and it is difficult to get them to cross.

@Hello Kitty 321

...the pedestrians seem to think it is a plot ...

When a pedestrian I always try to make eye contact with the driver just in case. As a foreigner I worth more points.

Just stop your car every time you near a crosswalks without traffic signals where pedestrians are ready to cross.

You may lose five minutes but if you don't a pedestrian might lose his/her life.

When there are lights at the crossing, pedestrians often trust the green pedestrian light and cross without checking the actual traffic situation.

I used to cross the street against the lights when there were few cars. But I stopped doing it when I noticed other people would just mindlessly start crossing after me without any awareness of the traffic.

vic.M: " I encounter this every day when driving."

Yeah, unlike the drivers who always go through reds. No pity, bud. Not saying you're one of the people who think the yellow light means "speed up", but come on... a person crossing when a light has just become red, or a car speeding through a red, what's more dangerous?

It is about time the cops did something, but it's not enough. This taxi driver should have been arrested and fined, if not jailed. I've wiped out off my bike once because a taxi driver decided to pull out of the taxi cab station in front of me since I was just a bike and not a car. Oh, he gave the "excuse me" hand up gesture, but that's it. Cops need to start cracking down on this kind of thing, and cracking down hard.

I thought pedestrians would stop for me.

Why. Would YOU, as a Japanese driver, stop for pedestrians?

Just what does he and every other Japanese driver think pedestrian crossings are for?

I do feel like i'm dicing with death each time I step out onto a crossing here that's for sure.