Tag - traffic

 
 

TRAFFIC

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.
A Cruise autonomous taxi in San Francisco on Aug. 10. Cruise is one of only two firms in California allowed to run paid robotaxi services around the clock.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 25, 2023
Robotaxis are making enemies as they go around San Francisco
Mishaps are adding to traffic and safety concerns over driverless vehicles, which zip around the city’s streets surrounded by sensors and cameras.
Police at the scene where a car plowed into festival-goers in the city of Shizuoka on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 12, 2023
Three injured after car plows into festival venue in Shizuoka
All of the injured people are conscious, according to Shizuoka Prefectural Police, who arrested a suspect at the scene.
A memorial for Brodee Champlain Kingman on the corner of El Camino Real and Santa Fe Drive in Encinitas, California, on Thursday. The e-bike industry is booming, but many vehicles are not legal for teenagers, and accidents are on the rise.
WORLD / Society
Jul 30, 2023
‘A dangerous combination’: Teens’ accidents expose e-bike risks
The e-bike industry is booming, but a spate of fatal accidents has raised questions about how safe e-bikes are, especially for teenagers.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 8, 2023
Man told police before school truck attack there was 'something wrong with him'
The suspect visited a police station on the day of the attack and made similar claims by phone earlier, but officers determined there was no need to take him into custody.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2023
Truck hits students at elementary school in northern Japan, injuring four
Police arrested Akihito Onodera, the 34-year-old suspected driver who lives nearby the scene, on suspicion of attempted murder.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 1, 2023
Dozens killed in horrific Kenya road crash
Scenes of devastation were reported at the site of the crash as rescue workers hunted in darkness for people feared trapped.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 18, 2023
Five people killed in collision of bus and truck in Hokkaido
The bus was carrying 15 passengers from Sapporo to a hot spring resort in Hakodate — with all hospitalized.

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’