I saw a discussion on a riding in Japan group on Facebook. People were saying how Japan was so safe for riding your bike.
I feel like I am crazy, I almost get hit by cars, teenagers not paying attention, women with 4 kids on their bikes, and random people walking all over the road without a care in the world. Is it just because I don’t live in Tokyo? Is Tokyo safe place to ride your bike?
How is it for everyone else?
I constantly see people running red lights on their bikes, crossing without looking, not stopping at 4 way intersections and just blowing through. I felt like I was taking crazy pills cause everyone said this is the safest place they’ve ever ridden.
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I have even thought to make a compilation of all the near miss moments with my camera.
11 comments
It’s like that all over Japan.
Even the police themselves ride their bicycle on the sidewalk…
That’s what makes Japan so unique \(^_^)/
Compared to the horror stories that I hear about drivers rolling coal at cyclists or even trying to actively kill cyclists in other countries, I think Japan is relatively safer.
However, it is still very important to ride defensively. I agree that many people riding bikes do so in a very dangerous way.
Another thing I have noticed especially if you ride fast is that many people do not realize just how fast bikes can be.
I used to bike commute to jobs/university in multiple U.S. states, so I like to think I have some experience with riding. Then I tried riding to work once here in Japan. Between having to weave into traffic to avoid cars parked in the bike lane and almost getting doored by those same cars multiple times, I’m surprised I’m still alive. On the other hand, riding around my neighborhood or to the local supermarket has been mostly okay. But you are right, cycling is not good here with so much disregard of the law and I don’t feel especially safe riding overall.
It’s pretty safe, you just ride on the sidewalk in the cities. It’s completely legal.
Can’t we use the word “bicycle” instead of “bike”? 🤣
On a more serious note I do a lot of cycling and I don’t find it particularly dangerous tbh.
It’s all in comparison.
Cars will be generally considerate and not try to hit you on purpose.
Otherwise, the whole cycling infrastructure consists of some roads with blue sides which are kind of meant for bicycles but in reality used by cars to park. People drive on the opposite lane, ignore red lights, drive looking into the phone, driving under influence, driving with umbrella at night without lights, driving “mom no hands” style and ignoring pretty much every rule and common sense and some bicycles are so badly maintained it takes a significant effort to stop them. Police seem to be oblivious to all of it.
I can’t say it’s plain dangerous to cycle in Tokyo, but it’s Wild West: chaotic, lawless and based entirely on mutual respect. Take in account that Japan has lots of cycling accidents with cyclist deaths. However, Japanese are generally good at being considerate to others and it’s the only reason why you don’t see this chaos to evolve into a giant steaming pile of bicycles and cars.
It took me a while to get used to riding in Tokyo…
Back in the states, I used to commute by bike to work. I lived close enough it didn’t make sense to buy a car to commute. On the stretch of road I had to commute, with a bike lane in a rich neighborhood and in a state with serious laws to protect cyclists for the US, there had been dozens of accidents and a few cyclists were put in serious condition within a year. There was a huge sidewalk that very few people walked on, but was very curved to reduce cyclists from going fast through it. I took that everyday, and every week I got yelled at for cycling on it instead of the deadly road.
Japan: Just ride as you need. Serious laws protect everyone just in a downward system of cars => bikes => peds. Those above are careful of those below. Do people take this for granted? As in old men who just pedal through a red light? Sure. And sure I’ve had near misses, and that’s why I’m careful. But I haven’t heard of many accidents, especially serious ones in my area. So safer? Yes. Amazingly safe so you don’t need to worry? No.
How does most of that effect you? Like if you see someone riding crazy, that is bad for you why exactly?
I find riding here mostly safe. Drivers recognise that roads ARE NOT JUST FOR CARS. They are shared zones for travel and thus they drive accordingly. In most western countries people believe that roads are for cars and if you aren’t in a car you should just die. People will literally hit you or at last drive you off the road in many countries.
There is no cycling infrastructure here, zero. But apart from that its pretty good.
I can only compare Tokyo to Vancouver, but drivers in Tokyo are way more defensive, which makes it safer for bicyclists. I see drivers slow down and even stop all the time at intersections where they have the right-of-way to check for pedestrians or bicyclists, and then let them pass.
> I constantly see people running red lights on their bikes, crossing without looking, not stopping at 4 way intersections and just blowing through.
And they get away with it. In Vancouver, they’d be dead.
A slight aside, one thing that I never really thought about, but makes cities in Japan safer for pedestrians (and bicyclists) is no street parking on most side streets. It was brought up in the 99% Invisible episode [First Errand](https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/first-errand/), that was inspired by the Japanese TV show and made recently globally popular by Netflix picking it up.
In my last year of university in the US, I was in a car accident and lost my car (only had liability insurance, person who caused the accident had no insurance).
Therefore, I had to ride my bicycle to and from school every day. In one year, I was hit by a car three times. Each one was a hit-and-run. People shrieked at me if I rode in the bike lane and they shrieked at me if I rode on the sidewalk.
It was weird because it wasn’t a particularly dangerous suburb or anything like that. Three airhead bimbos just hit me with their SUVs and flew off. In the last accident, I had a woman in an SUV trying to merge into my body. I was hitting her glass, unable to stop, and she was making eye contact with me as she continued pushing me right. I had to bail by jumping off my bike onto the sidewalk. My bike was completely destroyed.
At least the side of her brand-new SUV was fucked up.
Meanwhile in Japan, I have had one actual incident in 15~ years, and that was just a clueless middle-aged woman honking at me from behind because she was a moron who didn’t deserve to have a driver’s license.
It’s far safer to bike here compared to my city in the US, at least, but I fucking hate every single cyclist anyway. Suicidal fuckwits who think that they belong everywhere and that they take priority over pedestrians.
I rode exclusively in Providence, Seattle, and Portland for over a decade. During that time, I ate shit a handful of times (streetcar tracks, sudden stops due to negligent drivers, surprise debris, etc) and was hit twice (once real bad, once just some minor permanent muscle damage). I routinely dealt with unhinged drivers and obtuse pedestrians, and hazards like piles of slick fallen leaves, sand puddles, and busted up roads.
It took me months to adapt to riding here and feeling confident about it. Riding on the sidewalk is an absolute trip. Overall, I feel safer here, but I definitely see some of the same things you do. There are routes I avoid due to inattentive drivers or cyclists. But like, everyone is clocking ~40km/h or less, no one is chasing me off the road, no one is screaming at me and calling me a faggot, construction doesn’t crop out of nowhere with zero viability or illumination for cyclists, people driving to pass me at least go *around* me instead of close enough for me to give them a kiss, the roads and sidewalks are in generally good condition. Safe is relative, but yeah, I’d say it’s safer to ride here. There are so many smaller side streets that get little to no traffic and are an absolute joy to ride on, I wish that I had that experience in the US!