Yeah. The "crawl along and shout at any driver who dares overtake too fast" is one habit of Japanese patrol cars that probably causes more disruption than it solves... I was stuck behind one of them in Kagoshima a couple of days ago (in a rented-motorized-crate-on-wheels-designed-to-get-married-couples-around-inaka). After 30 minutes of empty country roads at 40km/h, it turned out that he was on his way to deal with a minor accident. Interesting decision not to hurry in the least to reach the scene.

I have a huge grin that comes on my face when I see a lamborghini waiting to turn at an intersection on Odaiba - by where the Fuji TV HQ building is!

Sanosuke!

That book is from 1989, 20 years ago. Not to mention it's about motorcycles. I would hazard a guess that many motorcyclists are crazier than average and that drivers are not aware of motorcycles at all times just because it's hard to see the bikes. Also, is it really surprising that taxi drivers go across several lanes to pick up fares?

Further, the guy in the link you provided wrote that "Japan is no more dangerous than other countries for motorcyclists - possibly less so because the speed limits are so low - but you must be aware of a few idiocies that persist."

Japan does not have "world breaking fatality records." I don't discount your personal experiences but the statistics speak for themselves and Japan is not breaking any world fatality records. It's too bad that you have had to see many accidents but they're not as common as you think.

Please quote your source for the low incidences of minor road accidents within Tokyo.

Most of the accidents that I've seen on a daily basis in Tokyo would never get reported.

You're kidding! The Japanese driver has it absolutely drummed into them from day one of driving school that EVERY accident HAS to be reported to the police.

I don't have personal experience, but I have several (gaijin) colleagues who are bikers and who've had very minor accidents and been happy just to ride off with no harm done but who have been asked to stay and wait for the police by the Japanese drivers involved.

Fatalities have been reduced, but the "habits" described have been passed down to the latest generation of drivers, riders and cyclists. One big factor in reducing road fatalities has been improved car design. The advice about what to be aware of on Japanese roads is still pretty good advice - even 20 years later.
If I would add anything to the article, it would probably be a comment about elderly drivers who are increasingly common. Perhaps the ojiisan with bad eyesight and slow reaction times is now a more common hazard than the boy racer who thinks he knows more about mountain driving than he really does.

No... it's an article FOR motorocyclists. It's about Japanese driving behavior.
I would hazard a guess that you've never ridden a motorcycle.

Yes... It's hard to see bikes. That's why car drivers in some countries have observation habits drilled into them when they're learning. For example, in the UK, instructors admonish their charges to follow the "mirrors, indicate, manoeuvre" process for any change of direction or speed. And even when not planning a manoeuvre, instructors expect the learner driver to be aware of what's around in case they want to slam on the brakes or swerve. (Also, at junctions, British drivers are reminded to "Think once, think twice, think bike."). Sure, these are just catch phrases, but it's amazing how the habits stick when they're drilled in from the start.

A lot of instruction for learner drivers in Japan seems to focus on rote memorization of rules and the principle that "safety driver = slow driver". Perhaps as a reaction to this, police instructors at retraining sessions tell the assembled crowd of license renewers to pay more attention to junctions, bikes and children that emerge from blind spots etc. I've also heard one instructor lecture people about "appropriate speed" in contrast to the over-simplistic "slow = safe" view. But by the time drivers come for their "refresher" lesson, their driving habits are pretty well ingrained - and most of them seem to do their best to ignore the instructor for the period they're required to sit in the classroom.

In Japan, even some professional drivers (especially taxi drivers) do the "mirrors, indicate, manoeuvre" gig in the opposite order -- They start to change lanes, then turn on the indicator, and look up into the rear-view mirror and see a car or bike that forces them to abort the move. I notice that Japanese drivers rarely use the side-mirror on the passenger side ... In urban traffic, that's the "bike alert" mirror and failure to use it is careless driving.

Yeah. If you're in the space between the taxi and his fare, it's pretty surprising. You kind of expect a professional driver to have some awareness of the road around him. I've known people to say "Ooooh. That was a surprise."

Yes. He qualifies the fact that Japan has a low fatality rate by explaining that this is not thanks to advanced driving skills and better driving habits. Rather, it is because speed limits are so much lower in Japan than they are in countries with similar road safety records.

I think that Japan could increase speed limits and achieve a significant leap in road safety by improving initial driver training, improving road layouts (especially with regard to visibility at junctions and complexity of some junctions) and reducing signage clutter.

Add: Ban drivers >80 years in age. @:-)

Finally, end of con calls.

I was 7 in 1989. The book is old. Period. The passing of the driving habits from generation to generation sounds sweet, nice, warm and fuzzy, but doesn't speak to how the driving schools have changed their instruction since 1989 or if there has been any change in focus of drivers' training. Also, the fact that cars have gotten safer is only relevant if the decline in fatalities in Japan is similar to the decline of other countries in the world. I have no idea except I know the decline in fatalities in Japan is happening each year, so not sure whether it's w/r/t driver training or cars being safer, both or what factor to attribute to each.

Ok, the book's subject is regarding, and in connection with, the riding of motorcycles in Japan. How's that? Satisfactory?

Your guess is wrong that I have never been on a motorcycle, and I have no idea why that matters. As if I have never been on a motorcycle it would make me less cool or that I would know less? Have you rode a motorcycle? I quit riding after being cut off and scraping my leg, but why did I have to include this?

The mere fact that Japanese drivers drive slow is a good driving habit. My personal experience is that Japanese drivers put more distance in between cars than I notice when I'm in the U.S - not as much tailgating. Additionally, the Japanese get road rage less.

If taxi drivers going over lanes to grab their fare is something you don't anticipate, then I guess your driving habits aren't so representative of UK. I assume you're from there because of your spelling of "maneuver."

An intriguing thread to me.

My take is that the speed limit here is what it is and to judge it as too fast or too slow would seem to be as much of an opinion as the statement that a thing is old or new. I would suggest that it is more a matter of perspective. We all know the old adage about opinions and their similarity in possession to that of anatomical apertures.

There have been tangents which have arisen over the course of this thread and it is these I find most interesting.

To have ridden a motorcycle for any extended period of time, let me offer 6 months as a reasonable period to describe as extended, is an absolutely wonderful way to raise the awareness of road users to the dangers posed by cars to anything with less mass or velocity.

I would go on to suggest that the chances of anyone who has not ridden a motorcycle for the above suggested period of time being a far better, or safer for the sake of this conversation, are greatly increased.

The Japanese in my opinion differ only slightly in their incredible lack of skill on the road to the Americans. In my opinion neither are worth a darn as drivers. Very poor indicating skills, very poor speed management skills, and very poor awareness of others on the road. Is it due to education? Or is it due to experience? Or other factors? I do not know, but as I too am �old� (significantly more so than a book published in 1989) and have been driving for a great majority of my years of existence, I can state categorically that I believe the drivers of Japan and their safety record being suggested in this thread to be more effected by societal norms of behavior than speed laws.

Similarly I would posit that the British, specifically those resident in Greater London are better drivers, which I believe them to be, than most any other group I have encountered. I believe this is in no way related to their long history with early pub closing nor their use of grease leakage preventing paper when buying fish and chips. It is my firm belief that it is in large art due to better training and a certainly, to the student at least, irritating frequency of warnings to look in the mirror. Such irritation gives way to a better product emerging from their driving schools.

Slow driving is not by itself an indication of safe driving. I cite for example the driver creeping along at 50kph when the balance of cars are moving at 70kph.

The road users that I would say are the very best of all are those who use the road for their living on two wheels. I am referring specifically to Motorcycle messengers. Much maligned by other drivers but with a sixth sense for other vehicle proximity that is light years ahead of anyone in a steel box. And all too often, due to personal experience, these same two-wheeled demons of the road are also more likely to be aware of the pain that can be inflicted by a large mass vehicle hitting a smaller mass object such as a motorcycle or pedestrian. This knowledge cannot be bought at any other price. And it makes a person a better road user in almost every instance.

The road users who are second best in my opinion are those drivers who know the roads better than any other, who know traffic patterns at various ties of day and who are not only reliant on the road for their income, but are licensed only after an arduous two years of study at the hands of the police department. I speak of course of taxi drivers in London. If they cut somebody off to the extent an accident is caused that can be proven to be due to negligent driving on their part, they do not spend a lot more time out earning. This is great incentive to not do some of the same screeching stop and lane shifts one see with Tokyo taxi drivers several times an hour on busy roads.

And I won�t even get into the silly riding habits of the motorcyclists in Japan. Who ever heard of riding on the inside? Sheesh!

All of the above should be read in consideration of the fact that I spent 4 years as a motorcycle messenger in London in the late 80�s and took, unofficially, the knowledge test of taxi drivers for that same period. Passed too. : ) Bear in mind too that when offering the above diatribe that I hold a U.K. motorcycle license and a both U.S. and Japan (the one with the cute gold piping) car licenses.

Mike

Unfortunately, I understand that this style is mandatory for mopeds (and as a result, some car drivers think they should force riders of larger bikes to behave the same way). I would strongly agree with your observation that an experienced motorcyclist (or cyclist) has an increased awareness of speed, mass, and the frailty of the human body in such circumstances.

The point that reductions in fatalities in the ‘90s and ‘00s were largely due to improved vehicle safety rather than improved driver skills was explained to me by a Japanese police driving instructor when I renewed my license two years ago. To support this argument, he showed some data on accident rates (which had declined somewhat) and fatality rates (which had declined greatly). I regret that I don't have that data to hand.

The police driving instructor held the view that young drivers were getting inadequate and inappropriate training. He told me that he had been given the job of fixing people’s bad habits two years too late.

I was pretty convinced by his arguments. They gel with my own observations from driving in Japan since 1992.
Please feel free to disagree and to dismiss any book that is "old".

(By the way, I wouldn't go near any mathematics textbooks if I were you. Rumor has it that some of that stuff was written thousands of years ago).

jib71 out.

This is certainly true. Amidst all the altercations I've seen there's never been a raised word. One might miss that one were witnessing an 'argument' after a traffic accident/misshap.

I've experienced "raised words"... First time was a four-fingered guy in a red Mercedes who didn't seem to need a reason. Perhaps that was just gangster rage...

Second time: A farmer driving his kei-truck at night without lights. He got annoyed because I entered the road in front of him. (What can I say? I looked down the road and it was pitch black).... When we stopped at a red light, I observed in my rear-view mirror that he got out of his cab, retrieved a Jerry can from the back and approached my car.... He stood in the road about a meter away, holding the metal can. I decided to risk winding down my window very slightly...

Him: (Angry noises that I didn't understand).
Me: You're driving without lights...
Him: Huh... ? (Looks back at his truck). Kuso... (Cursing himself? or me?)

The traffic lights changed and I didn't hang around to find out what he wanted to do with the Jerry can. He switched his lights on and drove like a gent after that...

I'm just happy for the speed limit everytime I watch someone driving the wrong way down my one-way street. Like 10 minutes ago.