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[shmooj]

Are we talking o-mamori here?

Anyway, I'd love to find stats of accidents for vehicles with/without these in or on them.

[cafebleu]

I am aware from friends that drivers in the Middle East tend to be shocking. However, I am appalled by the arrogant recklessness of Japanese drivers in general.

In my home country the worst drivers are young men who like to show off or young people in general who think that driving fast somehow equates to being `cool`. However, what disturbs me about the drivers in Japan is that piggish behaviour on roads is common to any age group, and I have found that young people and adults alike will just keep driving into a red light. Damn the person walking legitimately with the sanction of the green walker sign.

This happens daily here so it makes me think that it is the Japanese `in group out group` mentality manifesting itself. I don`t think the drivers purposefully think that they don`t know the person so they can just treat them like a speck of dirt on the road - I think they are used to putting people in categories and strangers have no relevance to them.

I walk and bicycle a lot and everyday I see or experience atrocious manners by Japanese drivers. There is always somebody driving through a green light, usually completely unapologetically and with the attitude that the pedestrian or cyclist who is following the traffic laws can jump out of the way. Or not walk at all.

Just as bad is the contempt for all age people trying to cross the road with those crossings that don`t use traffic lights. In the UK it is arseholes who speed up and refuse to even consider stopping for the person who is about to step out on to the road. Here in Japan I have seen people of all ages, not just those in hotted up cars or speed demons, go speeding at those crossings regardless of the person waiting and waiting to cross the road.

Despite all the talk (much of it meant for the ears of gullible westerners although some of it is symptomatic of self-delusion) of social harmony, putting the interests of the group first, etc, the Japanese display a real contempt for the interests of others in public places. In the UK blatant bad manners such as shoving people in queues and going full speed at pedestrians are met by some opposition. `Get to the back of the line`, `I didn`t see you here before`, `Slow down before somebody gets hurt`, `This is called a red light` are common instances of the way in which my fellow English people will at least try to deal with the offenders. I`ve watched groups of old ladies shove their way into a train or bus here in Japan, pushing others aside. Too bad such piggish behaviour doesn`t meet with opposition in Japan but are accepted as normal.

[shmooj]

Another post which makes me realise more that, in nearly six years of driving in Japan, I must have been using different roads than most of the other posters. Hey, perhaps I'm one of the in-group and so don't notice