Kei Cars, Speed limits, and Highway tolls oh my!

[Samurai_Jerk]

The hint can be found in the file name

Shot glasses, lime, and salt wasn't enough of a hint?

I don't know how much good it will do getting the kids up and ready for an early start though.

Yeah, that one had me scratching my balls too.

[legion]

you must be doing Japan wrong.....


I don't know one single person making below 10M円 a year that pays more than 10% income tax including city/ward. Back home in the US you are lucky to deduct your way down to 15%.

which part of " a huge tax on every liter of petrol we buy" did you miss?

There are two taxes on petrol (gasoline) in Japan, the regular tax, and the "special temporary" tax introduced in the early 1970s. Remember when the gov forgot to renew the legislation on the "special temporary" tax and for about a month the price of petrol dropped until they managed to re-introduce it.

We also pay consumption tax, property tax (if you own your place), vehicle tax, as well as hidden taxes on imported sugar (to protect the sugar industry in Okinawa) and leather (to protect the burakunin), and of course other import duties and corporate tax (which are passed on to the consumer), there is also what I believe is a punitive inheritance tax - keeps the little people in their place and has driven many small family businesses & homes out of areas like Ginza. Then there is my favourite tax, the 7000JPY fines you get for minor motoring offenses during road safety week.

But I'm from the UK, we don't have toll roads nationally. Controlling spending on the roads is one tools the government loves to employ to reinforce the north south divide.

Toll booths are one of the causes of traffic jams. One of the advantages of riding a motorcycle without an ETC these days is the non ETC lanes now are always empty, the ETC ones are always jammed. Makes no difference with a car half the time because the queue usually backs way up and you can't go down the middle.

One of the reasons I'm all in favour of population decline is that at some point in the future people will be able to get in and out of Tokyo without spending 4 hours travelling at less the 10kph

[Coligny]

The hint can be found in the file name

Shot glasses, lime, and salt wasn't enough of a hint?

I don't know how much good it will do getting the kids up and ready for an early start though.

Yeah, that one had me scratching my balls too.

I thought it was parmesan...

Delicious parmesan...

[Russell]

The hint can be found in the file name

Shot glasses, lime, and salt wasn't enough of a hint?

I still don't get it.

[Coligny]

Plus, shouldn't there be some lime slices too ? To go with the parmesan...

[Samurai_Jerk]

Toll booths are one of the causes of traffic jams. One of the advantages of riding a motorcycle without an ETC these days is the non ETC lanes now are always empty, the ETC ones are always jammed. Makes no difference with a car half the time because the queue usually backs way up and you can't go down the middle.

The problem there isn't toll roads, it's poorly designed toll roads.

[Coligny]

I'd say , it's more because of an organic evolution of the toll booth instead of a paradigm shift.
Introduction of the ETC system should have led to a split between slow gate for cash payments and faster lanes for etc cars. A system of photo+fine or delayed payment in case of problem instead of the 20kph crawl

[Russell]

I'd say , it's more because of an organic evolution of the toll booth instead of a paradigm shift.
Introduction of the ETC system should have led to a split between slow gate for cash payments and faster lanes for etc cars. A system of photo+fine or delayed payment in case of problem instead of the 20kph crawl

I have done some experimenting, and going through ETC gates with a speed of 55 km/h is just possible. Anything faster and the bar may hit my front window.

[Coligny]

The point is not how faster than allowed you can go. I never go more than 25 in case the car in front have to stop (another stupid risk due to the organic nature of the evolution).
But up to which speed can the system reliably read the ETC transponder. And i'm pretty sure that it can easily go up to 100 kph... Even if you have adapt the design a bit...

[Russell]

The point is not how faster than allowed you can go. I never go more than 25 in case the car in front have to stop (another stupid risk due to the organic nature of the evolution).
But up to which speed can the system reliably read the ETC transponder. And i'm pretty sure that it can easily go up to 100 kph... Even if you have adapt the design a bit...

I am talking about the case there is no car in front of me. If there is, it is possible to go even faster if the car goes fast enough, though evidently there is risk attached to that.

If there is no car in front, then the bars don't open fast enough to accommodate 100 km/h. Of course using stronger servo motors to drive the bars would be a solution...

In my drive to Tokyo I encountered ETC sensors above the road that did the job of an ETC gate, i.e., calculating the fee. I did not need to slow down for that, so, yes, you are right, in the absence of bars 100 km / h and over is easy to handle by the system.

[legion]

Toll booths are one of the causes of traffic jams. One of the advantages of riding a motorcycle without an ETC these days is the non ETC lanes now are always empty, the ETC ones are always jammed. Makes no difference with a car half the time because the queue usually backs way up and you can't go down the middle.

The problem there isn't toll roads, it's poorly designed toll roads.

the problem is traffic volume, population density and everyone doing the same thing at the same time

[Coligny]

The point is not how faster than allowed you can go. I never go more than 25 in case the car in front have to stop (another stupid risk due to the organic nature of the evolution).
But up to which speed can the system reliably read the ETC transponder. And i'm pretty sure that it can easily go up to 100 kph... Even if you have adapt the design a bit...

I am talking about the case there is no car in front of me. If there is, it is possible to go even faster if the car goes fast enough, though evidently there is risk attached to that.

If there is no car in front, then the bars don't open fast enough to accommodate 100 km/h. Of course using stronger servo motors to drive the bars would be a solution...

In my drive to Tokyo I encountered ETC sensors above the road that did the job of an ETC gate, i.e., calculating the fee. I did not need to slow down for that, so, yes, you are right, in the absence of bars 100 km / h and over is easy to handle by the system.

Them bars are the organical throwback i wuz pesting aboot...

Fee evader can be ticketed like speeding cars, no need for gates anymore...

[Coligny]

the problem is traffic volume, population density and everyone doing the same thing at the same time

All of which can be solved by increasing travel speed and available lanes.

Or mass murder...

[matsuki]

The hint can be found in the file name

Shot glasses, lime, and salt wasn't enough of a hint?

I still don't get it.

Knock them out early with tequila shots the night before?

The point is not how faster than allowed you can go. I never go more than 25 in case the car in front have to stop (another stupid risk due to the organic nature of the evolution).
But up to which speed can the system reliably read the ETC transponder. And i'm pretty sure that it can easily go up to 100 kph... Even if you have adapt the design a bit...

I am talking about the case there is no car in front of me. If there is, it is possible to go even faster if the car goes fast enough, though evidently there is risk attached to that.

If there is no car in front, then the bars don't open fast enough to accommodate 100 km/h. Of course using stronger servo motors to drive the bars would be a solution...

In my drive to Tokyo I encountered ETC sensors above the road that did the job of an ETC gate, i.e., calculating the fee. I did not need to slow down for that, so, yes, you are right, in the absence of bars 100 km / h and over is easy to handle by the system.

Them bars are the organical throwback i wuz pesting aboot...

Fee evader can be ticketed like speeding cars, no need for gates anymore...

THIS

No need for gates at all on the ETC side, only for the cash paying people.

PROOF:

http://vimeo.com/14007002

(Skip to 1:48)

[wagyl]

Well my thought when the introduced ETC was that they have had numberplate reading tech on the expressways for years (I remember that they had records of Aum movements) so why are they making us pay for a transponder just so that we can have the privilege of paying them more money. The incentives were eventually enough to get me onside, especially when they stopped issuing prepaid cards.

Quote of the day from Choko's posted video: "Your fanny gets sore and you're burning up gas for no reason."

[Mike Oxlong]

Quote of the day from Choko's posted video: "Your fanny gets sore and you're burning up gas for no reason."

Same guy in the vid talking about sore fannys and happy clams...

[legion]

Well my thought when the introduced ETC was that they have had numberplate reading tech on the expressways for years (I remember that they had records of Aum movements) so why are they making us pay for a transponder just so that we can have the privilege of paying them more money. The incentives were eventually enough to get me onside, especially when they stopped issuing prepaid cards.

Quote of the day from Choko's posted video: "Your fanny gets sore and you're burning up gas for no reason."

we got ours when they offered the discounts, were told there was a 6 month wait, then the gov said they would make the toll roads free if they won the next election and suddenly the waiting list disappeared, oddly enough the cynic in me decided to get one despite the gov's manifesto.

[matsuki]

So just to reiterate, if you get on the highway anytime between 00:00 and 04:00 you're getting half of the rate, there is less traffic, and (ok, assumption here) there is less chance of being pulled over? It almost seems too logical and good to be true....