Tag - traffic

 
 

TRAFFIC

Efforts continued Thursday to rescue a 74-year-old truck driver trapped in a massive sinkhole in Yashio, Saitama Prefecture.
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2025
74-year-old truck driver trapped in Saitama sinkhole for third day
Witnesses reported that the ground collapsed moments before the truck drove over the area, sending the vehicle plummeting into the chasm.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki told a news conference Tuesday that he wants recommendations on criteria for dangerous driving as soon as possible.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 28, 2025
Japan to set clearer standards for dangerous driving offenses
Under the current law, the criteria for applying a charge for dangerous driving, which can carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, are vague.
Fukushima Prefectural Police have arrested an alleged drunken driver who fatally struck a 19-year-old in Fukushima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 23, 2025
Drunken driver hits and kills 19-year-old student in Fukushima
The victim had traveled from her home in Osaka Prefecture to take a university entrance exam.
Tokyo led the country's 47 prefectures with 146 traffic-related fatalities in 2024, followed by Aichi with 141 and Chiba with 131.
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2025
Japan's traffic death toll falls to third-lowest in 2024
There were 2,663 traffic-related deaths in 2024. The government has a goal of lowering the annual toll below 2,000 by 2025.
Tokyo Metropolitan Police headquarters
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 28, 2024
Tokyo man accused of killing wife with car
The man has admitted to the allegations, saying that he killed his wife because he was angry and upset after she suspected him of having an affair, according to police sources.
A transport ministry panel experiments with a dummy to determine how quickly a person lying on the road during the night would be spotted when drivers use low and high beam lights.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 27, 2024
Japan drivers warned to steer clear of drunk pedestrians sleeping on road
Collisions involving pedestrians asleep on the road typically spike in December, when more people get imbibed at New Year's gatherings.
Police officers enforce electric scooter traffic regulations in Chuo Ward, Osaka, in July.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 3, 2024
Luup CEO blames repeat offenders for high e-scooter traffic violations
According to the National Police Agency, there were 25,156 e-scooter traffic violation cases in the year after e-scooter regulations were relaxed.
The Oita District Court sentenced a 23-year-old man to eight years in prison Thursday for causing a fatal crash in the city of Oita in 2021.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 28, 2024
Oita court sentences man to eight years in prison for dangerous driving
Initially filed as a case of negligent driving resulting in death, prosecutors later sought a dangerous driving charge, which carries harsher penalties.
Kozo Iizuka (center) takes part in an investigation of the site of an April 2019 car crash in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district that he was involved in, in June the same year.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 25, 2024
93-year-old inmate imprisoned over fatal Tokyo car crash dies
Kozo Iizuka died while serving a five-year term for negligent driving that caused the deaths of a woman and her young daughter in Ikebukuro in April 2019.
Relatives of the victim of an accident in the city of Oita held a news conference on Nov. 5, following the first hearing of the jury trial.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 14, 2024
Justice Ministry panel proposes stricter criteria for dangerous driving
Experts are advocating for the introduction of specific numerical thresholds for speed and blood alcohol content, addressing criticisms of ambiguity in the current law.
Toyota Motor and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone will spend ¥500 billion together on a project to develop the traffic accident prevention technology, and aim to commercialize it in 2028.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 29, 2024
Toyota and NTT to jointly develop driver assistance technology that uses AI
The ¥500 billion project will use artificial inteligence and optical communication infrastructure, aiming to commercialize by 2028.
A crashed bus following an accident in the state of Perak in western Malaysia
JAPAN
Oct 25, 2024
Malaysia tour bus crash leaves one Japanese dead and others injured
According to state fire and rescue authorities, the accident occurred on a highway on Thursday afternoon.
A cyclist stops to look at an electronic share price board in Tokyo on Sept. 30. From Nov. 1, cyclists who use their cellphones while cycling or ride under the influence of alcohol may be fined or jailed.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 20, 2024
Road traffic law revisions for cycling offenses to kick in next month
Cyclists who use their cellphones while cycling or ride under the influence of alcohol will be liable to fines and imprisonment from Nov. 1.
Cappadocia in central Turkey, a popular tourist destination renowned for its unusual rock formations and rock-caved churches. A bus carrying Japanese tourists that was traveling from Izmir in western Turkey to Cappadocia veered off a road and crashed into a ditch on Thursday, resulting in a number of them being sent to hospital.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 18, 2024
Bus carrying Japanese tourists in Turkey crashes into ditch
Passengers were sent to hospital where they underwent medical examinations, and two of them are receiving treatment, according to local authorities.
The percentage of alcohol-related accidents involving electric scooters was far higher than that for accidents involving bicycles and mopeds.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 19, 2024
17% of kick scooter accidents caused by drunken drivers
Some 70% of the drink-driving accidents took place between midnight and before 6 a.m.
Japan's new speed limit on narrow roads in residential areas will be set at 30 kph in September 2026.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Sep 17, 2024
Raising awareness key to Japan's new residential road speed limit
Violations of the speed limits will be punished by up to six months' imprisonment or a fine not exceeding ¥100,000.
Blue Jackets left wing Johnny Gaudreau skates with the puck during the second period against the Flames on Jan. 25.
MORE SPORTS / Ice Hockey
Sep 1, 2024
Johnny Gaudreau's wife pays tribute to late husband online
Gaudreau and his brother, Matthew, were killed Thursday night in New Jersey when they were struck by an alleged drunk driver.
Over 70% of high school or college students who provide long-term daily care for family members left disabled in traffic accidents said they have never talked about their situation with friends or public bodies, a survey showed.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 25, 2024
20% of children of traffic accident victims become family caregivers
Nearly 20% of young people in Japan whose parents have been killed or left permanently disabled in traffic accidents are caregivers of family members.
A truck driven by a drunk man collided with a group of schoolchildren and killed two pupils in Yachimata, Chiba Prefecture, in June 2021.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 15, 2024
Japan to toughen penalties over drunken truck drivers
The annual number of traffic accidents caused by drunken truck drivers has remained between 30 and 50 a year since 2012.
Takuya Matsunaga (right), whose wife and daughter were killed by a runaway car in Ikebukuro in April 2019, speaks during a news conference in Tokyo in October. Two men have allegedly defamed Matsunaga.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 5, 2024
Charges loom for pair accused of defaming families of traffic accident victims
The defamatory remarks were made on social media, including toward a man who lost his wife and child in a high-profile car accident in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro district.

Longform

Ayumi Matsuki, a priestess at Yoshiwara Shrine, shows off some "o-mamori" charms. She says visitors to the shrine have increased since the NHK drama “Unbound” began airing this month.
Tracing Tsutaya Juzaburo, Edo’s media maverick