Tag - traffic-accidents

 
 

TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS

With six people having been in a car that rolled over in Nabari, Mie Prefecture, the minivehicle may have exceeded its seating capacity of five when it crashed, according to the police.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 3, 2025
Minivehicle rolls over in Mie Prefecture, killing five aboard
With six people having been in the car, the minivehicle may have exceeded its seating capacity of five when it crashed, according to the police.
A kindergarten bus crashed into a house in Chiba Prefecture on Monday, killing the driver.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 30, 2025
Kindergarten bus crashes in Chiba, killing driver
Others in the bus are not in any life-threatening condition and police are investigating the cause of the accident.
A new draft proposal is aimed at clarifying the charge of dangerous driving resulting in death or injury.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 30, 2025
Justice Ministry proposes criteria for dangerous driving offenses
The proposal is aimed at clarifying the charge of dangerous driving resulting in death or injury.
A man was sentenced Friday to nine years in prison for driving in the wrong direction under the influence of alcohol, which led to a fatal collision with another vehicle.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 19, 2025
Man gets nine years after fatal drunken driving crash in Saitama
In the lay judge trial, Saitama District Court ruled the 19-year-old defendant guilty of dangerous driving resulting in death.
Bicycle helmet use has risen to 21.2% nationwide, up 4.2 percentage points from last year, according to the National Police Agency.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 11, 2025
Number of cyclists wearing helmets in Japan increases slightly, police say
Overall, usage rates have risen by 4.2 percentage points year on year to an average of 21.2%, according to a survey conducted in June.
The National Police Agency has issued a rulebook for cyclists detailing violations subject to fines from April 2026 onward.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 5, 2025
New rulebook for cycling in Japan details fines for minor violations
Traffic offenses that will prompt police to issue tickets for fines on the spot include talking on the phone or staring at it while cycling and railroad crossing violations.
Sayaka Togitani's daughter Hinami was delivered via emergency cesarean section but suffered fetal hypoxia, which left her with a severe disability.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 3, 2025
Family calls for daughter born after car accident to be recognized as a victim
The family of a pregnant woman who died after being hit by a car wants the daughter, born afterward with a severe disability, to be deemed a victim.
The number of car accidents in Japan resulting in death or serious injury that were caused by foreign drivers in the first half of 2025 totaled 258, up by 19 from a year earlier and exceeding 250 for the first time since 2008, according to the National Police Agency.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 30, 2025
Ratio of serious car accidents caused by foreign drivers hits record 2.1%
A total of 258 of such accidents, which caused death or serious injury, occurred in the first half of 2025, according to National Police Agency data.
Members of emergency services work at the scene after a vehicle plunged into a crowd outside a nightclub, on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles on Saturday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jul 20, 2025
Driver charged after plowing into Los Angeles nightclub crowd, injuring 30
The suspect, identified as 29-year-old Fernando Ramirez, was charged on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.
Shingo Kato, assistant manager at Homechigiru Driving School in Ise, Mie Prefecture, rides in a training vehicle with a smartphone equipped with the school’s translation app.
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Jun 30, 2025
Translation apps help break language barriers at Chubu driving schools
Some driving schools have refused enrollment of foreign nationals with limited Japanese skills, sources have said.
A minivehicle that crashed head-on with another vehicle in the Enasan Tunnel in Nakatsugawa, Gifu Prefecture, on June 11 after being driven the wrong way on the Chuo Expressway
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Jun 18, 2025
Wrong-way driving on expressways proves a persistent problem in Japan
Around 200 cases of wrong-way driving on expressways are reported each year.
Bicycle riders will be fined for minor traffic violations starting on April 1.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 18, 2025
Japan to fine riders ¥12,000 for using mobile phones while cycling
Fines between ¥3,000 ($20) and ¥12,000 will be imposed for 113 types of traffic violations.
Of the 1,830 children who got into a traffic accident between 2020 and 2024, 613, or 33.5%, ran out into the street, according to a government report.
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2025
Dart-out cases common among schoolchildren's traffic accidents in Japan
Of the 1,830 children who got into such accidents while walking between 2020 and 2024, 613, or 33.5%, ran out into the street.
Members of the Kyoto Prefectural Police department's bicycle patrol unit, known as the Be-Unit, in the city of Kyoto in April
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 28, 2025
Kyoto police deploy bicycle squad to crack down on reckless riding
The unit, launched in April last year under the traffic police force, has proven to be agile and effective.
Members of the Okinawa Prefectural Police and the U.S. military conduct a joint patrol in the city of Okinawa in April. Prefectural police arrested a U.S. Marine for an alleged hit-and-run case on Sunday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 26, 2025
U.S. Marine arrested for Okinawa hit-and-run that injured four
Lance Cpl. Ivan Garcia-Martinez’s breathalyzer test showed an alcohol level approximately twice the legal limit, police said.
Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Itsunori Onodera (fourth from left) visits a driver's license center in Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo, on Wednesday to see how foreign driver's licenses are converted into Japanese ones.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 22, 2025
Japan considers toughening rules on driver's license conversions
The National Police Agency revealed the plan amid concerns that the system for converting a foreign license is too easy.
The Saitama Prefectural Police headquarters. A motorist plowed into a group of elementary school students in the city of Misato, Saitama Prefecture, on Wednesday afternoon, injuring four boys before fleeing.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 15, 2025
Four elementary students injured in Saitama hit-and-run
Four 11-year-old boys were injured in the incident on Wednesday, with one of them believed to have suffered a fractured leg, leaving him in serious condition.
A 31-year-old man was taken into custody on Monday on suspicion of drunken driving after he caused a multivehicle crash in the city of Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 6, 2025
Driver arrested at scene of Yokosuka crash that injured eight
A breathalyzer test showed the 31-year-old man's blood alcohol level was approximately three times the legal limit.
Osaka police arrested Yuki Yazawa for attempted murder after he allegedly plowed his car into elementary school children in Osaka on Thursday. 

 department is investigating how and why the 28-year-old suspect,
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 4, 2025
Suspect who hit Osaka children with SUV said he disliked people living without hardship
The Osaka Prefectural Police Department is investigating how and why the 28-year-old suspect, Yuki Yazawa, committed the assault.
Osaka Prefectural Police officers check the vehicle of a 28-year-old man who allegedly rammed into schoolchildren on a street in the city of Osaka on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 1, 2025
Man arrested in Osaka after suspected car attack on children
Yuki Yazawa, an unemployed resident of Tokyo who was driving the vehicle, was arrested by the Osaka Prefectural Police on the spot on suspicion of attempted murder.

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