Steering Japan’s drivers in the right directionーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS
Police in central Japan have arrested a Peruvian man suspected of driving in the wrong direction on an expressway in Mia Prefecture. The suspect is believed to have caused multiple collisions and then fled the scene. [Music] Video from a dashboard camera shows a car driving the wrong way on the Shimein Expressway. A truck in front suddenly changes lanes and the driver has to swerve to avoid the oncoming vehicle. Another driver’s dash cam also captured the car. The car collided with two vehicles during the incident on Sunday morning. It also caused a pileup when a car stopped to avoid it and was hit by vehicles traveling behind. Four women in their 40s to 60s were injured. A dash cam captured the moment the pileup happened. The blue car appears to bump into the white vehicle on the right. And then after slowing down to avoid the oncoming car, the driver’s own vehicle is hit from behind. The woman who was riding in the passenger seat describes the accident. It was like the car was forcing its way down the middle of the road. They weren’t driving normally. I feel traumatized. I’m going to be afraid to go back on the expressway for a while. A 34 year old Peruvian man living in neighboring Shiga Prefecture turned himself in on Monday at a local police station. He was arrested later that day on suspicion of fleeing the scene of an accident. Based on eyewitness reports, police say it is possible that he made a U-turn on the highway. Now, incidents of people driving in the wrong direction are on the rise here in Japan. Uh, we spoke to a researcher who’s studying why such cases happen and how to prevent them. According to Japan’s Transport Ministry, there are 224 cases of wrongway driving on expressways during 2023. 39 of them resulted in accidents. Last month, a driver heading in the wrong direction on the Tohoku Expressway in the country’s northeast touched off a multi-vehicle crash, killing three people and injuring 11. Wow. Associate Professor Yamab Shiuki of Iwattate Perfectual University is using a simulator to research factors that lead people to drive the wrong way and measures that could prevent them from doing so. An NHK reporter tried it out. The highway in the simulator has two lanes in each direction like the Tohoku Expressway. The reporter’s car and the car traveling in the wrong direction are both moving at 80 kilometers per hour. Takeno was able to avoid a collision because he knew he needed to be on the lookout, but he still wasn’t as careful as he should have been. When you change lanes, you’re supposed to check your side view mirrors, but I think you didn’t do that. Changing lanes without checking first can cause a secondary accident. I didn’t check my rear view mirror or my side view mirrors. All my attention was focused on avoiding the car right in front of me. Yamab says it’s hard to steer clear of an oncoming vehicle safely if it appears without warning. So, he’s focusing his research on finding ways to prevent drivers from going in the wrong direction in the first place. The simulator uses various kinds of signs and road markings. Yamab is analyzing how drivers react as part of his research into effective signage. Our experiments have shown that using colors on the roads to steer drivers in the right direction is the most effective method. Yamab’s research is now being put into practice as part of renovations currently underway on some expressways in the Tohoku region. Wrongway driving means a driver has veered off the road they were supposed to be on. So, we need to steer drivers in the right direction. This could be a way of reducing the number of such cases. For more on this, Yoshkari joins us now. So Yui, regardless of where you are from, the driving safely is the top priority. Right. That is right. And the East Nippon Expressway company says wrongway driving happens more than once every two days nationwide. And the mortality rate is 15 times higher than for accidents on expressways in general. And the company says it’s particularly common at interchanges, toll gates, and entrances to service and parking areas. And roughly twothirds of these cases involve drivers aged 65 years or older. But the expressway operator is also urging motorists from overseas to be aware that driving in Japan may be different from what they are used to. When I go to war like driving, you have to really think about their rules their rules because it might be different to to your own country’s rules. And that’s especially important I mean at this moment because we will have like many overseas tourists preparing to visit Japan in the summer. Right. That’s right. And speaking of visiting Japan, if you’re planning on renting a car here, here’s something you want to check out beforehand. The All Japan Rent a Car Association has a guide to the four types of traffic violations that overseas drivers are most prone to commit. And over here we have always stop at a red light which sounds pretty obvious, right? But these are based on analysis by the police. So I think they’re worth remembering. And when I spoke to a representative from the association, they emphasize the rule about turning right at an intersection because in some countries you are allowed to make a turn even on red light as long as there’s no oncoming traffic. But here in Japan, you must wait for the green light before making a turn at intersections. Uh definitely, you know, I think that intersection one is a critical point because, you know, when I’m biking into work, uh you know, I still see some cars, you know, taking that turn on an intersection, you know, at a red light thinking that it’s okay. So, you know, so for anybody behind the wheels here in Japan, I think we also need to be mindful the driver in the vehicle next to us may not be very familiar with the traffic rules. Right. That’s right. And the association feels that same way. They’ve created these stickers and here it comes. And then that are rent that are put on cars rented by overseas customers. And it says a foreign person is driving. And each prefecture has its own design. And this one, by the way, is from Okinawa, one of the popular tourist destinations here in Japan. And if you’re driving in Japan and find a car with this sticker on it, it might be a good idea to give them a little more space. After all, safe driving is everyone’s responsibility.
Incidents of wrong-way driving are on the rise in Japan. We look at what’s being done to prevent them, and offer tips for overseas visitors on how to drive safely.
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