mellow0 comments

I've gotta' say, hosefella... I don't think you live here in Japan. The point you raise of people talking about the 1 to 7 (see post above) just don't happen here with 'fellow riders'. I ain't ever heard that crap!

My guess is that its all about harmony & sensibility. When I first came to Japan I was waking people up on the subways because I was worried they'd miss their stops. Back in my country we just don't dare to fall asleep on the trains for fear of missing our stop. The issues of "NOISE' in, on & around trains in Japan are somewhat confusing, what with horrendous noise pollution from Political Pollsters at the station gate who seem to have 'Carte Blanche' on drowning out platform announcements & everything else within earshot, the slavish, panic driven high intensity drivel that gets pumped out unnecerssarily in cases of obvious train delays & the whispered urgent conversations on the phone to inform bosses that the trains have been delayed AGAIN & WE are late for work!!! Generally speaking it seems to me that anything done on an individual level can be directly dealt with & criticized but if it comes from the 'apparent' system it must be OK.

The questions being raised about whether these people shouldn't drive aren't being asked because they're ageist or anti-disabled it's because it WASN'T 'a normal accident'. The guy plowed into a restaurant (accident) but then didn't have the faculties to deal with the situation properly. Instead of getting out or just sitting there waiting for assistance he then reversed into a cyclist (lack of observation) & then changed gear again to career into a van. That's some maneuvering! The answers lie in designing cars for people that will do far less damage & better checks on driving ability.