Tag - traffic

 
 

TRAFFIC

People ride bikes without wearing helmets in Tokyo in March 2023, just before a law revision over helmet wearing on April 1 that year.
JAPAN
Apr 2, 2024
One year after road law revision, few cyclists in Japan wear helmets
The helmet wearing rate among cyclists killed or injured in accidents between April and December 2023 was 14.7%, the National Police Agency said.
Tourists ride go-karts on a street in Tokyo's Asakusa area in October.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 19, 2024
Tokyo go-karts draw over 100 complaints in 2023
Common grievances include riders exiting karts at traffic lights for photos and disregarding red lights, according to the police.
In 2019, Japan tightened penalties for the use of smartphones and other mobile handsets while driving.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 7, 2024
Record high number of distracted drivers causing death or serious injury
In 2023, 25 incidents were fatal and 97 caused serious injury, with about 10% of drivers using mobile phones to talk and 90% looking at screens.
Police stations in Tokyo's Minato Ward hold a cycling safety event in Tokyo in August.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 6, 2024
Japan to introduce 'blue ticket' fine system for cyclists
Fines are expected to be between some ¥5,000 ($33) and ¥12,000, the same as those for traffic violations by motorized scooter riders.
The Tokyo High Court ruled that there was a causal relationship between Kazuo Ishibashi’s driving and the fatal crash that followed, upholding the Yokohama District Court’s findings and 18-year prison term.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 26, 2024
Tokyo court upholds 18-year prison term for driver over 2017 road rage
Kazuho Ishibashi had deliberately slowed down his vehicle in front of the victim’s car on an expressway, resulting in its rear-ending by a truck.
Kenya's Kelvin Kiptum wins the 2023 London Marathon on April 23, 2023. Kiptum and his coach were killed in a car accident on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Athletics
Feb 12, 2024
World marathon record holder Kelvin Kiptum dies in traffic accident
World marathon record holder Kelvin Kiptum and his coach Gervais Hakizimana died in a traffic accident on Sunday.
A railway crossing in Japan. A railway crossing gate in Osaka city opened before a train passed through on Tuesday, scraping a car that had proceeded to cross.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 7, 2024
Train scrapes car in Osaka after railway crossing gate opens prematurely
No one was hurt in the incident, which was caused by stray bolts causing a malfunction of a system that detects approaching trains.
Police officers hold a traffic safety lesson for e-scooter users in December 2022 in Tokyo's Meguro Ward.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 24, 2024
E-scooter traffic violations rise fourfold in Japan
Reports of traffic violations totaled 1,879 in the month of December, a significant increase from the 405 cases reported in July of last year.
American President Joe Biden hugs Brittany Alkonis after giving a State of the Union in February. The wife of jailed U.S. sailor Lt. Ridge Alkonis ran a successful pressure campaign to get her husband released from a Japanese prison into American custody. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 24, 2024
Japan owes no apology for U.S. Navy officer’s treatment
The case of Navy Lt. Ridge Alkonis is a divisive one, which both the U.S. and Japanese governments have tried to keep quiet about.
A screen next to a police station in the city of Okayama featuring a road safety campaign video in November.
JAPAN
Jan 5, 2024
Japan sees rise in traffic deaths for first time in eight years
Japan still saw the third-lowest death toll on record, with data dating back to 1948.
U.S. President Joe Biden hugs Brittany Alkonis, wife of Lt. Ridge Alkonis, on the day of the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in Washington on Feb. 7.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 15, 2023
U.S. Navy officer jailed in Japan transferred to U.S. custody
Lt. Ridge Alkonis has been serving a three-year prison term since being convicted of negligent driving over a fatal car crash.
Police officers examine the site of a car crash in a square in front of the Hitachi municipal offices in Ibaraki Prefecture on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 7, 2023
Suspect in Ibaraki car crashes admits involvement, citing grudge
The vehicle that was rammed into a square in the city of Hitachi had the suspect's mother in the passenger seat at the time of the incident.
The scene after a car crashed into a barricade near the Israeli Embassy in Tokyo on Thursday
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2023
Man arrested after car crashes through barricade near Israel's Tokyo embassy
The driver, a man in his 50s, was arrested for alleged obstruction of official duties. Investigative sources said he is a member of a right-wing group.
A Level 4 self-driving vehicle in the town of Eiheiji, Fukui Prefecture
JAPAN / Society
Nov 12, 2023
Fukui Prefecture records nation's first Level 4 accident
In the accident in the town on Oct. 29, the autonomous vehicle, traveling at about 4 kilometers per hour, hit a parked bicycle.
Takuya Matsunaga (right), who lost his wife and daughter in a 2019 crash in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district, attends a news conference on Friday along with his father-in-law, Yoshinori Uehara.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 27, 2023
Ex-Japan bureaucrat ordered to pay damages over fatal 2019 crash
Kozo Iizuka had already been sentenced to five years in prison, after the car he was driving crashed into Mana Matsunaga, 31, and her daughter Riko, 3.
A participant tries an electric kick scooter at a safety workshop in Tokyo in June ahead of a relaxation of rules for riding the device in July.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Oct 26, 2023
Violations of electric kick scooter rules on rise in Japan
Cases of violation in Tokyo for which the police took action came to 1,811 in the July-September period.
A Cruise driverless car operating in San Francisco. On Tuesday, California regulators ordered Cruise, a General Motors subsidiary, to stop its driverless taxi service in San Francisco after a series of traffic incidents.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 25, 2023
California sidelines Cruise's driverless cars, citing safety risk
The U.S. state suspended Cruise's autonomous vehicle deployment, saying the company had "misrepresented" the safety of the technology.
AI software is being used to detect cognitive decline in older Japanese drivers in order to help prevent accidents.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 22, 2023
AI startup helps insurers spot cognitive decline in elderly drivers
Once reliant on a driver's age and model of car, some insurers now rely on AI to expedite settlements and craft more precise risk assessments.
Pedestrians look on after a car plowed into a line of people in Tokyo's famous Shibuya scramble intersection Saturday evening.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 8, 2023
Two seriously hurt in accident near Tokyo's Shibuya crossing
Local media reports said Sunday that one of the men hit in the incident had suffered a fractured pelvis and another a fractured skull.
By prefecture, Gunma has had the highest number of bicycle accidents involving high school students on their way to school for nine consecutive years.
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2023
Bicycle accidents involving high schoolers highest in Gunma in 2022
The rate for junior high school students was also highest in Gunma Prefecture with 32.03, followed by Kagawa with 16.30.

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