An electric scooter was spotted early Tuesday morning on the Metropolitan Expressway in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward, prompting highway officials to release video footage on social media to warn riders of the extreme danger.
The Metropolitan Expressway operator said the incident occurred at around 3 a.m. on the inbound lane of the Shibuya Route. Video the company released shows an individual unlawfully riding an electric scooter onto the highway for about 1 kilometer, sometimes veering from the shoulder into traffic lanes. Fortunately, drivers were able to spot the scooter in time and avoided a serious accident, the company said.
While electric scooters are permitted on regular roads, their use on expressways is strictly prohibited due to the heightened risk of fatal accidents.
In a post on social media platform X, the highway operator urged riders not to enter highways under any circumstances. Riders who accidentally do so should call a road emergency hotline, according to the operator, which also said that it will refer examples of deliberate entry to the police.
The incident highlights growing concerns over electric scooter-related traffic violations, which have surged following the relaxation of regulations under a revised road traffic law in July 2023.
According to the National Police Agency, there were 25,156 e-scooter traffic violation cases in the year following the revised law's enactment, with 55% involving violations of traffic distribution rules, such as illegally riding on sidewalks. Tuesday’s incident marks the seventh such case of an electric scooter entering the Metropolitan Expressway.
Daiki Okai — CEO of Luup, a major electric scooter-sharing service provider based in Tokyo — attributed the rise in infractions to “a small number of users repeatedly committing violations,” emphasizing the need for stricter penalties to curb misconduct, he said in a recent interview with Jiji Press.
“We don't need revenue from a handful of malicious violators. There's no room for leniency,” he said.
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