Job Discussion Forums

[Apsara]

I know quite a number of foreigners who have been hit by cars and badly injured while on a scooter, bicycle or walking in Japan. One broke both arms, one his nose and jaw, another had quite a serious brain injury and one broke his cheekbone (he was riding his bike very drunk though so possibly that doesn't count) among others.

Taxi drivers are the worst- I have had one hit me because he didn't look left before pulling out onto a main road and another backed into me- not looking as he was reversing. Luckily very slow speeds were involved so I didn't get more than a couple of bruises.

It's definitely not the safest country to be a pedestrian in or cyclist in, but there definitely seems to be less car to car crashes here. I live near a very busy main road and if this were Auckland there would always be glass from broken headlights or windows scattered around the intersections- I very rarely see that here.

[Canuck2112]

I used to teach English to a trauma surgeon.

Apparently if you're hit by a car and live more than 24 hours, even in a vegetative state, the official cause of death is labeled "complications from surgery".

She told me that this is how Japan is able to keep it's "official" traffic-related fatality figures low

[cornishmuppet]

Wow, that's terrifying!

I still think Japan is pretty tame compared to over countries, though. The worst place I've ever been for driving is Naples. It was like being part of a computer game. And getting a lift home from a party in a car going at 130mph along a pot-holed expressway and driven by an extremely drunk Italian is an experience I never wish to have again.

[ironopolis]

[gaijinalways]

I'd say the drivers here are pretty tame compared to other parts of Asia, but.. compared to where I have lived before, drivers definately need some lessons here. No wonder so many people like to say they are 'paper' drivers!

[king kakipi]

I got hit by a lady here in a 4wd as she turned into a driveway and knocked me off my bicycle. She said she didn`t see my (85kg) frame. I lost it and told her she needed to see an optician in a mix of Scottish/Australian/Japanese. She def got the message but the small crowd that gathered just watched (and possibly expanded their English vocabulary with a few new swear words!).

Just yesterday, as I waited in a long queue outside the Mizuho bank, I watched ineptitude at work as the keystone cops wandered a few footsteps from the warmth of their koban. They waited till people had illegally parked outside the bank, completed their transactions, and then, on returning to their cars, informed them they had parked illegally. The went through the pretence of pulling out their notebooks, pointing at `clearway` signs (a misnomer in Japan) before letting off 3/3 illegally parked cars` drivers who either remonstrated with them, or laughed at them.

Rant over, `tis good to be back in Japan for the holidays (only.....)

[Hoser]

What gets me are the pedestrians or cyclists who just step onto the street without even looking what is coming. I don't know whether people just depend on their sense of hearing or what. That won't help you very much when someone on a bicycle is coming. Whenever I step onto the street or make any kind of change in direction when I'm on the street I always look both ways (left and right or front and back) before I do it. It's just common sense.

[gaijinalways]

I hear you, a lot of people trust in some god or just luck too much.

[flyingkiwi]

And what also erks me is little obaachans taking up the whole footpath when you are on your bicycle behind when trying to get a way past.

I think every one of us on a bicycle has had this experience.

[gaijinalways]

Sometimes more the 'drunken' walk when people are walking is annoying when I am hurrying by on foot (or attempting to)!