Tight Parking In Japan From June

[FG Lurker]

Osaka people seem pretty hardcore about ignoring no parking signs:

Ummm, I've done that before.

[Mulboyne]

Yomiuri: Parking violators blame stomach pains

Most of about 2,000 car owners who offered explanations for parking violations in Tokyo since June claimed that the drivers had to park to use the toilet because of stomach pains, the Metropolitan Police Department said Tuesday. The MPD believes it may be because some Internet Web sites incorrectly advise that penalties can be canceled if drivers or owners cite stomach pain as the reason for illegal parking. "The penalties cannot be quashed unless the illegal parking was prompted by reasons such as natural disasters or automobile theft," an MPD officer said...Commenting on the incorrect information on the Internet, a Traffic Bureau officer said: "Because the time between parking illegally and receiving a ticket has been shortened, business that can be finished within two or three minutes is no longer acceptable as an excuse. There may be people who erroneously believe that saying they had to go to toilet due to stomach pain will beat the system."

[Captain Japan]

This week is Tokyo's infamous "safety week," which means lots of cops in the streets blowing whistles. Today on 246 there was a checkpoint that stopped all scooters. As I rode by I tried to read the sign but couldn't. Each scooter rider was being given a pamphlet of some kind.

Anyway, I could see that from about 10 feet beyond the checkpoint all the idiot cops had parked their cars illegally. As well, the cars for the moron press corp covering this "event" were parked illegally too.

[Mike Oxlong]

When I lived in the Chubu area, I once knowingly parked illegally in a popular spot for "free parking", and a cop walked over from nearby (hadn't noticed him prowling about), and told me it wasn't permitted to park there...the nice thing is he recommended a very close and free parking lot that I hadn't known about. All in fluent English. They ain't all bad, thankfully.

[Captain Japan]

Tokyo's roads safer than ever in '06
Gomiuri Shimbun

The number of people killed in traffic accidents in Tokyo this year is 239, up to Friday, and the final figure is expected to be a record low since the Metropolitan Police Department began compiling statistics in 1954, sources close to the MPD said Saturday.

The figure is much lower than the previous record low of 277 in 1979.

This year's record low for traffic-related deaths is likely to remain as the number of traffic accidents declined by about 5,200 from last year and there are no signs of a sudden jump in fatal traffic accidents.

The MPD will step up its efforts to crack down on drunk driving in the run-up to the year-end holidays to achieve the new record.

An official of the MPD's traffic bureau attributed the decline in the traffic death toll to the crackdown on illegal parking by private parking wardens beginning in June.

"With fewer illegally parked cars, drivers don't have to make dangerous lane changes or jump out from parked cars, contributing to the curb in fatal accidents as a result," he said....more...

Next thing you know there'll be a crackdown on bid rigging.

[IkemenTommy]

An official of the MPD's traffic bureau attributed the decline in the traffic death toll to the crackdown on illegal parking by private parking wardens beginning in June.

I really don't believe that the decline in traffic death has anything to do with illegal parking. They completely forgot the fact that there is less drunk driving now because of the more strict law.

[FG Lurker]

I really don't believe that the decline in traffic death has anything to do with illegal parking. They completely forgot the fact that there is less drunk driving now because of the more strict law.

I'd say that stricter DUI laws have made a bigger difference, but the huge drop in illegally parked cars has helped too I'm sure.

Before the law change there were cars parked everywhere. Example: I'd be coming out of a side street and want to turn onto a major road, but couldn't see what was coming because some moron parked his van on the corner and totally blocked any chance of seeing the road. I'd have to have the car nearly half way out onto the road before it was possible to see if something was coming or not... That still happens now sometimes but I'd say it has dropped 90% or more.

On the flip side though it sucks to have to be super careful about where I park if I want to run into a store for a minute to pick something up...I spend a lot more on meters now.

[FG Lurker]

Crackdowns on illegal parking proving effective
Mainichi Daily News, December 14, 2006

Stepped-up crackdowns on illegal parking under the amended Road Traffic Law have proven effective in decreasing the number of illegally parked cars and easing traffic congestion, the National Police Agency (NPA) said Thursday.

[...]

Over the June-November period, police officers and private parking inspectors issued a combined 1.348 million traffic violation tickets for illegal parking. The figure translates into an average of 7,370 a day, significantly above some 5,700 cases before the amended law came into effect.

By Dec. 10, 47 drivers of illegally parked vehicles had been arrested for assaulting private parking inspectors across the country.

(Full Story)

At 15,000 each that is a LOT of money from fines... Over 20 billion yen!!

Be nice if they put that cash into road improvements but I bet it's just being dumped into a mixed pool of government funds.

[American Oyaji]

What is the old penalty and then the new penalty for DUI?

[Captain Japan]

Is fining system 'parking' up the wrong tree?
Asahi

Drivers who park illegally are catching on to a loophole in the law. But the police do not seem to care.

The drivers pay the fines as "owners" of the vehicles, not the "drivers," thereby avoiding guilt for a traffic offense and keeping all of their points on their driver's licenses.

According to the National Police Agency, about 70 percent of illegal-parking tickets processed are now settled by owners of the vehicles. The trend has been accelerating ever since revisions of the Road Traffic Law came into effect last June.

Under the revisions, police can go after the registered owner of a vehicle illegally parked if the ticketed driver cannot be identified.

The system was introduced because of the dismal percentage of ticketed drivers willing to pay their parking fines. During the three years between 2003 and 2005, 20 to 30 percent of parking violators never showed up at the police station to report the violation and receive a form to pay the fine....more...

[Mulboyne]

Yomiuri: Illegal parkers attempting to lie way out of fines

Claiming that a car or number plate has been stolen has become a popular ruse to avoid paying parking fines since the 2006 revised Road Traffic Law empowered police to impose penalties on both drivers and car owners. Police are alarmed at the emergence of Web sites advising car owners liable for parking fines to lie because they can have their fines withdrawn if they say their vehicles have been stolen when explaining parking infringements. In November, the Metropolitan Police Department sent papers to public prosecutors on a man who filed a false theft report immediately after his motorcycle was given a parking ticket on suspicion he violated the Road Traffic Law. This is the first case in which the law is being applied to illegal parking.

According to MPD officials, at about noon on May 31, the man, a part-time worker, parked his motorcycle on a sidewalk in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo. About two hours after a parking ticket was attached to his motorcycle, he reported to a police box near his home that his number plate had been stolen. Afterward, he submitted a report saying the stolen number plate must have been used on the motorcycle ticketed for illegal parking. Since the report was submitted immediately after the ticket was issued, police suspected the man was lying. When the Public Safety Commission demanded an explanation from the man, he apparently lied again, saying he had god rid of his motorcycle. When police looked into the matter they found he was riding a motorbike bearing the number plate he said had been stolen. The man then told police he could not afford to pay the 9,000 yen fine. As his repeated filing of false reports was judged to be a malicious violation of the law, police sent papers on the man to public prosecutors in November. On Feb. 4, the Tokyo Summary Court imposed a 100,000 yen fine on the man...more...

[hodensaft]

[Mike Oxlong]