The Chiba Prefectural Public Safety Commission has banned a 29-year-old man from Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, from riding a bicycle for 90 days, after he was found guilty of cycling under the influence of quasi-legal "kiken" (dangerous) drugs.
The ban took effect Tuesday.
In September, the man fell from his bike and hurt his neck while cycling on a road in Sumida Ward, Tokyo. He had inhaled the quasi-legal drugs, which are part of a group of drugs that have stimulant or hallucinatory effects but include chemicals not clearly banned by law.
In October, the Tokyo Summary Court found the man guilty on charges of violating the Road Traffic Law and ordered him to pay a ¥200,000 fine. It marked the first court case in which the law was applied to cyclists. The man paid the fine immediately.
But the prefectural public safety commission took seriously the fact that he has been a habitual user of such drugs and that he could cause similar bike accidents in the future, and moved to impose the cycling ban, prefectural police said.