Your article of Jan. 14th, page 3, Police to Target Speedsters on Vulnerable Roads, seems to raise more questions than it answers. I am speaking from some experience, having driven in rural Japan for 14 years, and being caught for speeding twice. The Yomiuri article states with calculation and statistics that up until now the police had placed more speed controls on busier, principal roads, but that there are fewer accidents and fatalities on those roads. The new emphasis, in line with European policy, is on smaller, residential roads, using ...portable, unmanned speed cameras... to better enforce speed limits... This raises many important questions: First of all, what is a portable, unmanned speed camera? Is that clear to anyone? If the new policy is to be more local and hands-on to decrease accidents, then why install unmanned speed cameras? The invasive secrecy will probably upset locals. Also, in my own experience, the emphasis of monitoring vulnerable, residential roads has the tendency to penalize only those who live and work there. (I complained at the police station about this, and there have since been fewer roadside speed traps in my area.) This new policy localizes punishment to what should be a broad, public traffic awareness. Another obvious omission in this discourse is the ratio of revenue taken in by the police from traffic tickets, between main thoroughfares, and community roads. Is it easier, less combative, and more profitable to target local roads? Where is that statistic? From my observation of Japanese drivers, there should be more direct contact with police personnel, especially in denser traffic areas and large intersections. Like other Asian nations, they dont drive according to mutual laws and rules, but what they can or cannot get away with. We now need from the police what they have not been good at and have tried to avoid: direct, interpersonal contact. This will go a long way in reducing infractions in a hurrying and unmindful public.
Posted on: Mon, 27 Jan 2014 00:44:51 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015