Japanese traffic signals and other driving fun

[Coligny]

Lazy steering... Too much work to turn the wheel...
Dadinlaw was guilty of this too until I put a steering knob on his wheel. Now all his corners follow the lines like if he was drawing them. And I'm pretty sure he tried to drift his fucking prius too. There some pretty unnatural wear marks on the rear tires...

[chibaka]

Another annoying related thing I noticed is right turns. An apparent inability to turn 90 degrees, every corner must be negotiated by cutting it at 45 degrees, whether they have visibility or not. Wall blocking the view? No problem, cut the corner and hope no one is there. I've had many close calls with those idiots.

And this? Was this taught in driving school, or did the whole nation agree to this particular form of mass hysteria?

Remember, driving through red lights isn't taught at driving school, but most people here do it. Same as using a mobile phone while driving, unsecured children playing in the front seat..... the list goes on.

[Mike Oxlong]

You mean I have to add lazy to the list of things to expect from local dlibers?! Stupid, selfish and surly was so easy to remember.

[Wage Slave]

Another annoying related thing I noticed is right turns. An apparent inability to turn 90 degrees, every corner must be negotiated by cutting it at 45 degrees, whether they have visibility or not. Wall blocking the view? No problem, cut the corner and hope no one is there. I've had many close calls with those idiots.

This. Around here they are terrible. And the idiots give you such a shocked what the hell do you think you are doing in my way look when all you are doing is approaching the junction that they have just cut through. Only the fact you did so with caution saved the accident.

Left turns should be tight, for sure but right turns in narrow junctions should be at 90 degrees and late enough so you enter the new road on your stupid side of the thing. Is that a wide turn? If so that's the only safe and considerate way of doing it.

[kurogane]

And the idiots give you such a shocked what the hell do you think you are doing in my way look .

That is a bottomless pit of exasperated enjoyment, but to be fair, do you not tend to get that look anywhere regardless of the mode of transport, be it car, bus, train or bike? The depth of that self-absorption while performing complex motor functions is remarkable. It would be a fantastic cognitive study if one could ever get permission, which one could not. BTW, Okinawan driving adds even higher levels of stupidity and incompetence. I haven't been this flabbergasted since driving on Indian reservations back at home.

Mike Ox, etc.,
Is mainland Okinawa driving Chaplinesque/Mr. Bean-like as well, or is it a Yaeyama thing?

BTW,
I think it is the fear of the curb that leads to those turns.

[Mike Oxlong]

And the idiots give you such a shocked what the hell do you think you are doing in my way look .

That is a bottomless pit of exasperated enjoyment, but to be fair, do you not tend to get that look anywhere regardless of the mode of transport, be it car, bus, train or bike? The depth of that self-absorption while performing complex motor functions is remarkable. It would be a fantastic cognitive study if one could ever get permission, which one could not. BTW, Okinawan driving adds even higher levels of stupidity and incompetence. I haven't been this flabbergasted since driving on Indian reservations back at home.

Mike Ox, etc.,
Is mainland Okinawa driving Chaplinesque/Mr. Bean-like as well, or is it a Yaeyama thing?

BTW,
I think it is the fear of the curb that leads to those turns.

Yeah, Okinawa Honto driving is the worst I've seen across the cuntry. The sheer volume of わ & Y-numbers, the senile seniors, the bumpkins, super-surplus of taxis, bus lanes full of taxis and scooters...a perfect shit storm.

[matsuki]

Another annoying related thing I noticed is right turns. An apparent inability to turn 90 degrees, every corner must be negotiated by cutting it at 45 degrees, whether they have visibility or not. Wall blocking the view? No problem, cut the corner and hope no one is there. I've had many close calls with those idiots.

And this? Was this taught in driving school, or did the whole nation agree to this particular form of mass hysteria?

Remember, driving through red lights isn't taught at driving school, but most people here do it. Same as using a mobile phone while driving, unsecured children playing in the front seat..... the list goes on.

Japaneeeeeeze style™

I can only imagine it gets worse as the population ages and less youngins are driving....

[Mike Oxlong]

Remember, driving through red lights isn't taught at driving school, but most people here do it. Same as using a mobile phone while driving, unsecured children playing in the front seat..... the list goes on.

Japaneeeeeeze style™

I can only imagine it gets worse as the population ages and less youngins are driving....

Worse here. No viable public transport options, so everyone gets a license and a car at 18. Thing is, no one improves. 30 and 45-year-olds drive as though they just got their first license. And senility in the elderly makes them revert back to the selfish impatient childlike qualities, in addition to the lack of skills and deteriorating vision, hearing, reaction time, and decision making.

[chibaka]

Well, car has been repaired, latest I heard is that my insurance company is asking obaa's insurance company, if they will kindly accept me being only 10% at fault. What....the.....fuck.
No one has yet asked the victim, moi, what he will accept.
This is Japan boys and girls:)

[kurogane]

Worse here. No viable public transport options, so everyone gets a license and a car at 18. Thing is, no one improves. 30 and 45-year-olds drive as though they just got their first license. And senility in the elderly makes them revert back to the selfish impatient childlike qualities, in addition to the lack of skills and deteriorating vision, hearing, reaction time, and decision making.

And now it is Nenmatsu, so things are really heating up: brain addled tourists in rental cars, drunk drivers at 2 pm, 3 toddlers in the fron seat because it's holiday time, once a year drivers dashing down to San'Ei or Oto-ya to get those gargantuan plates of ready made Ordoburu.............the list goes on but the fun never stops.

BTW, what were the Wa and Y plates you mentioned above again? puhleez..........

[wagyl]

BTW, what were the Wa and Y plates you mentioned above again? puhleez..........

わナンバー: rental cars are registered with わ as the hiragana component.
Yナンバー: private cars registered to US servicemen get Y as the "hiragana" component.

It is often said that the large numbers of both kinds of plates in Okinawa is an excuse for the creative driving style there, but the other kind of number plates there are similarly creative in actual fact.

[kurogane]

Thanks.
PS Off the main island those Y plates are a moot point anyways, and unless 78 year old obviously local obvious once a month drivers are renting cars so their grandkids have a moving playpen that is the least of the problems. From what I saw in Naha the only problems with the Y plate drivers are the angry white man speed freak frustration maneuvers a la Matsuki ( ). The locals drive like stoned monkeys out for a picnic. And don't or won't yield. Or smile. Or blink. It's the closest I have ever come to driving on an Indian reservation without being on one, and I drove in Thailand, India and Scotland.

[wuchan]

And now it is Nenmatsu, so things are really heating up: brain addled tourists in rental cars, drunk drivers at 2 pm, 3 toddlers in the fron seat because it's holiday time, once a year drivers dashing down to San'Ei or Oto-ya to get those gargantuan plates of ready made Ordoburu.............the list goes on but the fun never stops.

Funny you mentioned this. Went on the highway today and it was much less crowded than I expected but I saw a few things that don't usually happen on the road I was on. The prius people were motoring along at their usual 120kph, nothing strange there. Then an Audi TT blasts past on the left which intrigued me so I gave it a bit more gas to see what the hurry was. A chick doing 190, cool... but wait, a toyota probox is keeping up with us?

A bit later I encountered a fiat 500 Abarth doing 60, on the highway.

Then on my way back I'm working my way through traffic when some douche tries to bully me out of the way. I drop a few gears and brace for impact. He jams on his brakes and comes right back (usually they back off). 20 or so minutes pass with this douche trying his hardest to pass me any way he can. Finally the road opens up and he tries to pass on the left. I drop a gear and floor it. This cunt is driving a V10 toyota century. He looked so fucking confused when he was running flat out and I was right next to him blipping my throttle trying to get him to go faster.

[Coligny]

Sounds like your usual afternoon drive on ekimae down in the BigT...
Minus the whole Renault Sport lineup and few Gordinis driven by obachans...

[wuchan]

Sounds like your usual afternoon drive on ekimae down in the BigT...
Minus the whole Renault Sport lineup and few Gordinis driven by obachans...

Up here in Kanto you only see french cars near atsugi which is French Motor HQ AKA Nissan. The cunts in centuries are very rare, usually century drivers are driving someone that would get quite upset if they spilled their drink. The Kan-Etsu is a racetrack but all the AMG mercs, M bimmers, Maseratis, GTRs, Lambos, and modded expensive domestic cars keep everyone in check... even the cops. However, the rest of the pay roads up here are not well built and overly patrolled by crowns and fugas.

[matsuki]

Right off the plane and on my way home and I'm already confronted with tailgating assholes and almost get side swiped by a minivan that made the widest left-turn into a family restaurant possible...well into my lane. TIJ

Well, car has been repaired, latest I heard is that my insurance company is asking obaa's insurance company, if they will kindly accept me being only 10% at fault. What....the.....fuck.
No one has yet asked the victim, moi, what he will accept.
This is Japan boys and girls:)

Friend of mine just settled his accident with the other party 100% at fault. (he was driving straight, other asshole tried to rush a right-hand turn without looking) Took him almost a year but he told his insurance he would not accept any liability and refused their attempts at the ol 10%/90%. He said it took awhile and intentionally "acting stubborn" but it paid off in the end.

[chibaka]

Friend of mine just settled his accident with the other party 100% at fault. (he was driving straight, other asshole tried to rush a right-hand turn without looking) Took him almost a year but he told his insurance he would not accept any liability and refused their attempts at the ol 10%/90%. He said it took awhile and intentionally "acting stubborn" but it paid off in the end.

Is this kosher? If so I have nothing to lose by stringing it out, this may well be my course of action. I'll be speaking with my company tomorrow, I'll tell them to politely tell Obaa's insurance company to fuck off.

[matsuki]

Yeah, he said (I can't confirm) that the longer it drags on, the more it costs the insurance company because TIJ and there are a bunch of pointless legal meetings and such. If I were you, I'd do the same as I don't really see what you have to lose whereas you do have 10%+ to gain.

[kurogane]

Friend of mine just settled his accident with the other party 100% at fault. (he was driving straight, other asshole tried to rush a right-hand turn without looking) Took him almost a year but he told his insurance he would not accept any liability and refused their attempts at the ol 10%/90%. He said it took awhile and intentionally "acting stubborn" but it paid off in the end.

Is this kosher? If so I have nothing to lose by stringing it out, this may well be my course of action. I'll be speaking with my company tomorrow, I'll tell them to politely tell Obaa's insurance company to fuck off.

Fer schur it is kosher. You're not doing or thinking anything some to many Japanese wouldn't. They pull that This is Japan and Wa yada yada because you're not (most don't even mean to do it; it's like a reflex), not because shit always works that way. As I see it you have 2 issues: the money you are now out of pocket, and your beloved Trouble & Strife and her take and attitude on this. I fully agree with a light TIJ take (hence the BS compromise and tooth sucking); but Japan is also a country with stringent consumer protection laws, and your insurance company's prime duty is to you, the policy holder. Show some of that Sheffield Steel and wait the feckers out. I assume the money you are currently out of pocket for is annoying but not crucial, as you've already fixed it. Feck them, feck her until they feckin pay ya. Feck.................

[matsuki]

What Kuro said, the guy i'm talking about is not FG and told the to fuck off when they pulled the whole shared responsibility bullshit. I think the analogy he used was akin to "So he didn't punch the other guy, the other guy's face just happened to be in the way of his fist??"

[chibaka]

Right, game on. Actually I'm not out of pocket except higher telephone usage than normal. Car is fixed, I haven't paid anything, so I think a "go fuck yourself" directive is on the cards. My company can't pay anything without my approval, and I don't want to pay so yeah, why not. Of course I'm waiting for the usual "but it's Japanese law" which we all know is bollocks.

[matsuki]

Right, game on. Actually I'm not out of pocket except higher telephone usage than normal. Car is fixed, I haven't paid anything, so I think a "go fuck yourself" directive is on the cards. My company can't pay anything without my approval, and I don't want to pay so yeah, why not. Of course I'm waiting for the usual "but it's Japanese law" which we all know is bollocks.

Nice, don't let them try to bend reality at your expense.

[chibaka]

Right, game on. Actually I'm not out of pocket except higher telephone usage than normal. Car is fixed, I haven't paid anything, so I think a "go fuck yourself" directive is on the cards. My company can't pay anything without my approval, and I don't want to pay so yeah, why not. Of course I'm waiting for the usual "but it's Japanese law" which we all know is bollocks.

Nice, don't let them try to bend reality at your expense.

Oh, one thing I forgot, another TIJ gold nugget, my company has said if I want to fight for 0%, they won't help me, fight for minimum maybe, but not zero. Can't anyone shed light on which school of logic these people studied at?

[matsuki]

I think it's just to discourage you from getting entrenched at a 100/0 outcome. Not sure how legal that is either...I know my insurance is supposed to include legal representation and I'm paying a small fee for it....but at the end of the day, can't see how they won't give in...especially in your case. Bitch has no wiggle room and tried to pull a fast one. Fuck her and fuck the insurance co.

[wagyl]

Oh, one thing I forgot, another TIJ gold nugget, my company has said if I want to fight for 0%, they won't help me, fight for minimum maybe, but not zero. Can't anyone shed light on which school of logic these people studied at?

Yep. it costs them more in legal fees to hold out for 0% than it does to cave in for 10% (especially if most of the 10% cost of repairing her car is covered by your excess). This is not a TIJ phenomenon. It is a global phenomenon. It is called "pragmatism," even if your principles may take a slight bruising. The "for convenience we work in 10% increments so 10% is minimal liability" thing is a stronger tendency in Japan, however.

For future accidents, if you are firm in your goal to hold out for 0% liability, you are not in that case using your insurance at all, and there is no need to involve your insurance company in the transaction. You are, however, on your own in dealing with her insurance company, in that case. Also, if you are in fact later found to be partially responsible, there is the chance that by not involving your insurance company from the start, you have voided your insurance, and you will be liable to pay the 10% or whatever yourself from your own pocket.

[chibaka]

Yep. it costs them more in legal fees to hold out for 0% than it does to cave in for 10% (especially if most of the 10% cost of repairing her car is covered by your excess)

What legal fees would they be? Endless unnecessary meetings with tooth sucking and green tea?
Based on the (real) estimates for my car repair, and my estimate for a plastic bumper cover for her piece of shit K car, from my (extensive) knowledge of cars in general, they have already wasted far more than the 10% in question.

So what, they all feel good at night that they are not 100% at fault, they should think about who pays their fucking wages. Sorry, trying to apply logic again, big no-no

[kurogane]

The logic is that you taking 10% keeps everybody happy, including the at fault driver, and keeps the pigs snorting at the trough without having to lift their snouts for too long. As Wagyl noted, that is the insurance industry not Japan per se, though I am sure the particularly Japanese!!! parts of this rigamarole would amuse Japan experts everywhere.

If you really feel 10% is out of line, don't settle. There is NFW you are legally obliged to without some sort of court order. Japan has laws, and means to have them work for you. What's the ball & chain's take? I would follow her lead unless you feel that strongly about it. Which I totally get, btw. I would be quietly smoking.

[chibaka]

What's the ball & chain's take? I would follow her lead unless you feel that strongly about it. Which I totally get, btw. I would be quietly smoking.

Her initial reaction was they can get fucked, although as time goes on she realizes that she is Japanese, and resistance is futile. Fuck it, I'll drag it out, and already planning to move insurance contracts this year.

[kurogane]

Yeah, I wondered if the insurance waltz would wear her down. As long as she is not against your stance, stay with it.

[Takechanpoo]

owning cars in japan means you are a slave of the maintenance cost.
even kei car costs 360000 yen per year.
http://www.kei-car.tank.jp/ijihi/1nenkan.html

there is nothing inconvenient in only bicycle life unless you like to go a long way.