Speeding ticket...

[Spidey]

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 or shared experiences would be great.

S

[kurohinge1]

... Any information or shared experiences would be great ...

Seek and ye shall find ...

Previous threads:

Speeding in Japan vs Australia

Speeding Ticket

[Spidey]

... Any information or shared experiences would be great ...

Seek and ye shall find ...

Previous threads:

Speeding in Japan vs Australia

Speeding Ticket

Yeah. Sorry about that. I just got done reading one of them. However, the more info the merrier.

S

[Taro Toporific]

...I was doing 81km/h in a 50km/h zone.

That's more than 30km/h over the limit so you're screwed. For my 22kph over the limit all I got was 3 points off my license, a fine of 18,000 yen, had to watch a Department of Motor Vehicles movie in Japanese and they waived the post-movie test since it is all in Japanese. It's just a wasted afternoon but my office let me go on company time since driving was part of the job. However, my car insurance rate didn't go up.

....60,000yen for 20kph over the limit is what one of my very FG bucho paid.

Especially in 40km/h (25mph) areas where you are doing more than 60 km/h (40mph) fines of over 100 000yen are notuncommon at all.

Read:
LOSING MY DRIVE: Speeding in Japan
By David Aldwinckle, Sapporo, Japan
...You were going 75 in a fifty zone. 25kph over the limit. That'll mean 3 points off your license and a fine of 18,000 yen... [driver's school at] Department of Motor Vehicles within a week, spend a full day receiving reindoctrination, pay 6,600 yen, and pass a test at the end. The test would be in Japanese. Gulp.

[FG Lurker]

You'll get a fine, 6 points, and a one month suspension. I'm not sure how much the fine will be, 40,000 to 60,000 seems likely though.

You can avoid the suspension by taking a one-day refresher training class. In the past this was classroom only, but my recently-busted RX8-driving friend tells me they make you do a driving test now.

Pick up a radar detector... It's cheaper than another fine. Make sure to get one with GPS, hopefully one that lets you update the camera database too.

[oyajikun]

Man oh man.. You should never stop for pedestrian cops in the country. Thats just asking for a dui.

[Taro Toporific]

You can avoid the suspension by taking a one-day refresher training class. In the past this was classroom only, but my recently-busted RX8-driving friend tells me they make you do a driving test now.

Now's there's a driving test in Japanese?! Arrrg, just a year and half ago it was only a stupid class (I listened to a MP3 book through the whole thing).

[quote="FG Lurker"]
Pick up a radar detector... It's cheaper than another fine. ]
Is there's any solution to the problem Japanese expressways now have mini-radar pingers placed every few kms on the road that produce false readings? (My Japanese radar detector is 5 years old. Is it totally obsolete?)

[FG Lurker]

Pick up a radar detector... It's cheaper than another fine. ]
Is there's any solution to the problem Japanese expressways now have mini-radar pingers placed every few kms on the road that produce false readings? (My Japanese dectector is 5 years old.)

Maybe they don't do that in Kansai cause it is not a problem I have had here, or on my regular Okayama trips. Or on my trips via Awajishima to Ashizurimisaki in Kouchi.

My detector has GPS in it and a database of all the known fixed cameras in Japan. It warns me a km or so before I reach the camera. I can add cameras to it by hitting a button on the top if I find a camera that was installed after the detector was made. Apparently the newest ones allow you to download database updates via keitai or something too. Overall I am very pleased with my detector, it has saved my ass many, many times. (Found out earlier this year that my car has had it's 180km/hr limiter removed.... How did I find that out? Can't say. )

[FG Lurker]

You can avoid the suspension by taking a one-day refresher training class. In the past this was classroom only, but my recently-busted RX8-driving friend tells me they make you do a driving test now.

Now's there's a driving test in Japanese?! Arrrg, just a year and half ago it was only a stupid class (I listened to a MP3 book through the whole thing).

He was busted for doing 82km/hr on an expressway off-ramp that was 40km/hr. He had to take a day-long course that ended with a driving test that he said seemed similiar to the one you take when you get your license.

[Spidey]

DRIVING TEST!!

I was driving on a country road for fuck sake. No where near a city and with houses a good 50m away from the road way. A 50km/h speed limit? Strictly a money grab!!

On the other hand, I'll think twice before stomping on the pedal. 80km/h is hardly stomping though.

S

[Greji]

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.

Sounds like fixed radar. My latest race a couple of months ago, was 75 in a 50, the prize for which, won me the right to bank transfer 18,000. They gave me a break because it was early in the morning and I was making time, much better that what they clocked me, or should I say, cited me for.

The dirty part of it (or neat, depending how you looked at it) was they were driving a late model silver mercedes with a sliding compartment on the roof which allowed the red piko piko bubble to be elevated when they make a stop! I blew right past them like Sherman going through Georgia and never saw them until they lit me up!

They told me if I got no other violations in two months points would not be added to my driving record and I haven't heard anything more. I renew my license next month, so when I appear at the window and am immediately locked up, I'll know they were putting me on!

[Kanchou]

A friend of mine tells me that they've started cracking down on Shutokou speeders, especially street racers.

I wonder if the "hashirya" guy I know who likes to drive 260+ km/h in his Supra on the Wangan Line has been arrested yet...hehehe.

[FG Lurker]

I was checking out the new radar detectors today and found this handy page of info:

http://www.carpy.jp/radar/ihan.html

Expressway points & fines:


Non-expressway points & fines:


Looks like FG is resizing the images of those tables, but if you click on em you should get the full size.

A short and probably not-needed explanation: The left column shows the speed ranges that the points/fines apply to. The middle column is the number of points, and the right column is the fine. 30km+ over the limit on a normal road gets you a trip to court to decide how much cash you get to pay. 40km+ over on an expressway gets you the same thing.

They also have a chart up here that shows what situations will lead to what sorts of license suspensions. 6 points gets you a one-month suspension that can be avoided with a one-day re-education course.

[FG Lurker]

Guess I was very lucky when I got off with a warning for doing 140 in a 60 zone. The cop knew I was going way too fast, but he couldn't catch up with me before I had to stop for the next traffic light. He was pretty pissed off at first, but in the end just ended up giving me a stern warning to slow down and drive carefully.