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spidey · Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 12:46 am Post subject: Speeding ticket...

I was driving down a country road yesterday not really paying attention to my speed when...a Japanese cop jumps onto the road and signals me to pull over. To make a long and not so interesting story short...I was doing 81km/h in a 50km/h zone.

My question is...Does anyone know about how much the fine is going to be or the procedure that I will no doubt have to go through?

Any information would be great.

S

Big John Stud · Joined: 07 Oct 2004 Posts: 513

A friend of mine a few years ago had to take driving lessons. I am not sure on the details if he had to or did so so his insurance wouldn't be raised. we've lost touch.

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

I'd say don't be surprised if they ask you to pay 30,000 yen.

JimDunlop2 · Joined: 31 Jan 2003 Posts: 2286 Location: Japan

craven · Joined: 17 Dec 2004 Posts: 130

You might want to have a Japanese friend look over the ticket...I believe that if you are caught doing more than 30km/hr over the speed limit you have to go to court to process it and then go to driving school. This is in addition to the fine (Y20-50000 sounded right), and points off of your licence. My friend was caught two weeks ago and that's what he had to do. I'm not sure how many points he lost.

JimDunlop2 · Joined: 31 Jan 2003 Posts: 2286 Location: Japan

craven: I don't think it's 30 over. I'm pretty sure it's double the speed limit (whatever it may be)..... That's the same as many places in Canada and the U.S. as far as I know... And it goes along with what my friend told me -- he drives a Yamaha R1 (racing bike)....

spidey · Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 2:36 am Post subject: Re: Speeding ticket...

JimDunlop2 · Joined: 31 Jan 2003 Posts: 2286 Location: Japan

Hmm... Well, unfortunately the world of traffic in Japan is one of those areas where everything what others tell you is wrong, and everything what others tell you is also 100% correct. It seems that there is no ryhme or reason to the way things go when it comes to automobile-related issues. From licensing rules, to fines & violations, anything.

For instance, I've heard of Canadians who've had to do driving tests to get their licenses just because the DMV where they lived didn't like the fact that they didn't have to and felt that ALL foreigners should do the test. This is NOT the case in most areas however.

All I can say is, don't worry about it. If it was a speed trap, many other people were getting caught and probably getting the same treatment. I suspect that the reason why there was no fine amount indicated, is that they were trying to get people in/out of the speed trap area very quickly and just didn't have time to calculate that stuff on the spot.

I WILL however advise that you may wish to consider taking a day off work. Whether you have to go to court or not, or whether you have to go to a traffic safety class or not, these things tend to take a LONG time to process. When you appear at the given place on the given date and time, the first thing they:ll have you do is wait, and then wait some more. Once I had to sit in the police station for 45 minutes, just waiting for the "English-speaking" officer to return from patrol so she could speak to me... Apparently they wanted me to understand everything before they slapped me with a 15,000 yen fine and told me to cough it up in a week... Then writing up the ticket itself took another good half hour...

craven · Joined: 17 Dec 2004 Posts: 130

Yeah, I'm curious as to what the court limits are...keep us posted as to what happens when you go in to deal with the ticket. I'd second what Jim said about taking a day off work too...these things can take a HUGE amount of time to process.