Job Discussion Forums

[Sweetsee]

Are there traffic laws in Japan regarding:

1) tail-gating: coming to a stop too close or following too close behind a
vehicle

2) cross-walks: yielding to pedestrians?




Do people change behind the wheel? How does a car tag truck driver behave outside the truck's cab?

Do the confines of the interior of an automobile produce hostile and aggresive behavior in otherwise passive, non-confrontational people?

What is it about the hurry up to wait mentality of most motorists?

Has anyone experienced road rage in Japan?

[Glenski]

1. dunno.
2. yes.
3. huh? change places????? never seen or heard of that except in action movies.
4. yes, it's called road rage, although the cause is more along the lines of the confines of a person's mind vs. the exterior consequences of the car.
5. please explain. Or if you have a screaming child with you.
6. I'm sure some people have. I've read at least one report of it in the newspaper.

Having a bad time lately behind the wheel, Sweetsee?

[Sweetsee]

Hey Glenski,

Thanks for the reply. Wish I had more thought provoking topics to bring up but this is one that I think about on a daily basis. That and how the heck to teach my students.

I recently bought a car for the first time since arriving in Japan, that's 15 years and one week ago, and I am amazed at the driving habits. I could go on and on and may.

Mainly, tailgating bothers me; at a stop and while moving. Yesterday, a motorist pulled up behind me at a light in a little no-top, kit car or something, couldn't really see because it was so close behind me. Really, I could see part of the driver but almost none of the car through my rear-view. My first instinct was to back up.

The other day I was going around a corner and this blue truck construction worker type was so close behind me it was like he was in the back seat, then I slowed and signaled right mid-block and I felt but could not believe he was going to pass me on the left on a two-way street with schools and pedestrians on both sides. I made my turn as he roared off after swerving off the road and using a vacant lot to get around me. Other motorists watched in disbelief as he raced the next 50 meters to the red signal. (hurry up and wait)

How about the trucks that come up and nearly touch the back of your car? The other day, and I'm not kidding, I saw a truck actually touch the car ahead, and the guy rolls down his window and looks back with a what is up with that look, as they pull off the road to inspect the touch.

Of course, before getting a car I could see that cross walks don't mean nothing. I always stop for pedestrians at marked cross walks. Problem is, when I stop on-coming traffic doesn't or traffic behind me will pass on the left, creating a potentially dangerous situation.

And of course the people who are pulling up to stopped traffic and they block you from crossing the street or from pulling out of somewhere.

Sorry about the rant, I know everywhere has bad driving manners but the tailgating and failure of motorists to yield to pedestrians is out of control.

I feel better.

I do really want to ask you something about teaching, Glenski.

[Canuck2112]

Since being here I've encountered some of the worst driving imaginable. I've been in small towns and huge metropolises, and it seems to be universal. A great percentage of these people have evidentally been taught by chimps and have no place behind the wheel of a car.

[guest of Japan]

I don't drive here, but it seems to me that drivers follow some sort of Zen driving technique. They seem to do countless stupid things, seldom focus on the road, but yet don't seem to have many accidents. The drivers in China and Thailand on the other hand focus intensely, but drive as if it's an F-1 race. I wasn't in either place long enough to get a feel for how many accidents they have. Having spent 8 years driving in NY I'm sure I have a different standard of drivng quality than most human beings.

[lajzar]

I agree, Japanese motorists are terrible.

Last weekend I was tailgated late at night. I was riding a bicycle at the time.

[denise]

On a local road here, I always see cars swerving waaaaaaaay over into the opposite lane before making a left turn. Does driving school teach people that one must veer right before turning left?

And then there are the folks who think it's perfectly OK to stop their cars in the MIDDLE of the lane--whether to pick up/drop people off, to observe the scenery, etc.

d

[Sweetsee]

Today I must have had esp because I pulled into traffic behind this geezer who without signaling, though I was sensing his hesitation, nearly stopped and turned right across the solid line right in front of me. I never even thought about the horn because I was just tracking him all the way. He finally noticed me and gave the sorry don't know what I'm doing tomahawk wave chop. Speeding from around the corner in the opposite direction was a patrol car that never noticed the manoeuvre.

Couple of weeks ago I was stuck in traffic at nearly the same spot when a woman pulled into traffic going the opposite direction nearly causing a serious collision because she couldn't see anything and no one will make space so you can see. Anyway, after the initial close call she manges to get going and as she passes by I notice she is carrying an infant, I'm guessing less than 6 months, on a sling on her back, leaning forward of course to avoid sandwiching junior between her and the seat.

Lajzar, I love that. I rode a bike before gettting a car. Always getting vibed, honked at, raced...and always catch up to them and come up to the window screaming and it is so funny because the driver is trying his best to pretend that you don't exist, everyone for that matter.

Once had a horrific bicycle collision in the middle of a packed intersection in Shimoda, both of us laid out unable to get up and not even one door cracked open, all traffic stopped and everyone watching the gaijin try to get themselves and the debris out of the roadway. Really!

[Gordon]

[Celeste]

My personal favourite is the ones who make it into the parking lot at the Lawson's, but then back out into moving traffic. I have not really noticed road rage here (but I am only a cyclist in Japan). Most of the dangerous driving and accidents that I have seen are at low speed and caused by innattention. Interestingly, I have been rear ended on my bicycle by many cyclists, and once by a car. The time I was rear ended by a car I was really surprised, because we'd been stopped for some time and I was all the way over at the edge of the road. (No harm though- I had my feet on the ground and didn't get knocked down.)

[guest of Japan]

I've only driven in Japan one time. I was driving my girlfriend's (now wife's) mother's car in Nikko. I was a little tense as it was the only time in my life to drive on the left side of the road. My girlfriend started freaking out saying "left, left Left!" I pulled off the side of the road in a state of panic. It turned out that she was panicked because there was a yankee tailgating me. I wanted to kill her. I knew there was someone tailgaiting me, but I didn't care. Priorities are different here and logic is a foreign concept.

[Sweetsee]

Tailgating is so rare and such a big no-no in America, I guess that's why I find it so unnerving here. It happens all the time. Just the way cars cue up at lights is a prime example. This is not limited to everyday motorists but includes buses and other commercial vehicles that should really know better.

Try crossing a street where cars are lined up. They don't want to let you pass between the cars and often are so close to eachother that you can't.

I often am driving along well above the speed limit, say doing 60 in a 40 zone and see that someone is drafting me. I try to get out of the way but it is sometimes difficult, for example on a narrow country road. I understand people who are toading along in the fast lane of an expressway, they need to be reminded to move over.

The thing that intersets me is the reactions and expressions of motorists. I find most people to be devoid of expression and get a kick out of the the pumping of a raised fist as I go by, a far cry from the window down out of the car shananigans seen in other countries.

[shmooj]

Sweetsee, I suggest a driving holiday here in Korea. You'll feel a whole lot better about driving in Japan after that.

After Japan, my least favourite colour is now orange.

[Sweetsee]

Hi schmooj,

Is it worse there? You drive?

Last night I was going on about my two driving pet peaves and I noticed one student taking a keen interest. When I asked for an opinion he responded, I am tail gate driver! I said, oh no! Why?

He said if he didn't seal the space between his car and the one ahead another driver would get between them. Aha!

I said that this wouldn't really delay his arrival at his destination.

The topic came up when a student mentioned that Japanese walk fast and are always in a hurry. This explained the driving behavior in my mind.

You have a good day over there, Schmooj!

[Glenski]