Sometimes like today, I see a police car driving down the road with their lights flashing on top seemingly for no reason. It was driving down a busy road stopping at all the stoplights, with no messages being broadcast on the speakers. Nobody took any mind of it, and all the other cars just kept driving down the road as normal, as did the police car.
It reminded me of a case several years ago in America where a Japanese woman driving a rental car took police on a long high-speed chase which finally ended with her car being stopped with those spiked strips set up ahead of her.
Apparently she told the police she didn’t know their flashing lights meant that she had to pull over. The police car was getting close up behind her so she kept speeding up to create more distance lol. It’s lucky she wasn’t shot dead
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“Patrol”. Basically it’s them making their presence known and simultaneously making it look like they’re doing something.
I kinda like knowing that there’s a police car flashing their lights in plain sight so I don’t do anything stupid.
Police Officers are human too..he simply could have forgotten they were on..it happens.
I’ve wondered the same and the answer is that the police cars will drive with their lights flashing when they are on patrol. The idea is that the flashing lights will deter crime from happening. There is no need to yield to the police vehicle in this case since it is not responding to an urgent matter
They do that in my inaka town as well. I don’t really have an answer, but I just assume it’s their “patrol mode”. Still a bit odd to me since I’m from America.
Standard protocol in a lot of places.
Here they sometimes just sit parked with no one inside, lights happily flashing away.
Because this isn’t america.
It is the police way of encouraging people to drive safely.
Probably the neighborhood watch. Police don’t patrol as much here as other countries so they rely on citizens and watch groups to help and report crimes.
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It’s their way of saying “We exist; we’re not a myth.”
This is not uncommon in a lot of places. It just makes their presence known while on patrol. This may be different in the US, but in most countries flashing lights basically have no meaning, it’s just a visual aid. You only have to yield when the siren is on.
Police equivalent to walking around banging two melodious sticks yelling 火のよ〜じ
Because it’s necessary
It’s the mobile red light disco. If you see those flashing lights you’re obligated, legally and morally, to throw down your best dance moves. Failure to comply will lead to your automatic arrest.
As one of my customers who is a cop tells me, it’s for attention. Like, we are watching you.
Your area could be having a Traffic Safety Campaign (交通安全キャンペーン) where they are promoting, you guessed it, traffic/road safety.
I’m not sure where in Japan you are, but here is an info page in English for Tokyo.
[https://www.tomin-anzen.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/english/traffic-safety/](https://www.tomin-anzen.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/english/traffic-safety/)
It makes the criminal scum slink back into the shadows, and reassures the public that the cops are appearing to do something.
>Apparently she told the police she didn’t know their flashing lights meant that she had to pull over.
I am also from the states, where I am used to the lights *only* being on when they’re on hot pursuit. Soon after getting my license here, I quickly took note that cops here will do their little patrol thing, which lead to me disregarding them 99% of the time.
One night, at about 1AM, little ol’ 初心者 me was following Google maps, as I did not know the streets well. I was instructed to “turn right ahead,” which I did. Immediately afterwards, a cop starts following with his lights on. Again, being from the states I clenched my nether region for fear of being pulled over. But I thought, “Wait. This is Japan. They always do that for no reason!”
This cop followed me for about 4 intersections, and eventually started saying something over the microphone. My then N5 ass thought, “I wonder what he’s saying. But hey, they do that all the time too.” This continued for another few intersections until *it happened.*
At the next intersection, as I’m waiting for the light to turn green, I heard a knock on my window. What followed next was an assault of Japanese words the likes I’ve never experienced. I pulled over, and by the mercy of Google Translate I was able to decipher that I had apparently made an illegal right turn AND my rear windshield wiper was falling off.
The cop seems to have taken mercy on me and let me go with a small fee and a warning.
Good times.
For visibility.
The extensible thing on the roof is for the same reason too.
Now get off your high prairie horse 🙂