I don’t know who decided that 50cc scooters should have a 30kmh limit on all roads. Car traffic is always moving faster and get caught up behind you which just makes you feel like a nuccence.
On top of the inconvenience it’s also just dangerous and it’s also made worse by laws in passing other vehicles. In Japan there’s 2 types of passing rules in general on sign means you cannot overtake a vehicle at all and the issue here the one that says no over taking a vehicle by going into the opposite lane.
The 2nd allows people to over take you as long as they remain in there lane which is stupid because it encourages ppl to get as close as possible to you to over take so they don’t break the law. Basically every car doesn’t like being behind a scooter so they always overtake most ppl will go into the other lane a tiny bit to give you space but there are so many times where they don’t and pass as close as possible to not break the law. As well as the sheer number of ppl recklessly passing despite a opposing car approaching.
And from what I’ve seen scooters can travel on roads with a speed limit as high as 60 and at that point the speed difference is completely dangerous. And because of the 30 kmh restriction you also have to deal with more inconveniences such as 2 stage right turns in roads with more than 3 lanes in your direction this makes sense with the 30 kmh restriction but only because of that.
It’s not like these scooters are so under powered that they can’t go above 30 a scooter will easily ride at 60 with no problems and higher if you take off the limiter. So I always ride 10 under the car limit because it’s just dangerous to follow the 30 kmh restriction. I’m guessing it’s somehow supposed to protect the rider from their unskilled riding or something but it only makes it more dangerous.
18 comments
The two stage right turn is stupid I’ll agree.
30 really is ridiculous
laws made some 70-80 years ago
but if you don’t like them the only thing you can do is to **NATURALIZE**, get elected to the parliament, and change the those laws
I agree that the 30 km/h rule is dumb. But I understand they created it because anyone with a regular licesne can ride a 50cc scooter. They don’t want inexperienced riders going over 30.
Probably the best thing to do would be to require a separate motorcycle licesne for scooters like make Western coutnries do.
That’s why I ride a 100 cc scooter. Because I just don’t feel safe riding at 30 on a scooter when the rest of the traffic is doing 50 or 60.
I always ride at 40-50. It’s what everyone else is doing anyway so…
I rode one for a few years in Okinawa. 30 is ludicrously slow. The cars zoom past you constantly and it’s terrifying how close they are sometimes (even though we have to drive as far to the left as possible!)
However.
They’re horribly dangerous in rain. So much so that I’d say just don’t drive if you can avoid it, and if you do have to, go slow. They’ll even skid on road markings. In rain, sure, 30 makes sense.
I have a car and know absolutely nothing about traffic rules when driving a scooter. All I can say, however, is that I hate them with a passion lol. Where I live in the inaka basically all roads are single lane. A person on a damn scooter will cause a massive inconvenience for a row of like 10+ cars that will have to find an opening to overtake the scooter. The even bigger problem is that eventually there will be a stop light. Every single damn time the person in said scooter feels the need to move all the way up to the front of the queue of cars, thus yet again creating the damn problem of having to overtake the scooter again.
To be honest, everyone does about 15km over the designated speed limits around my area. Including the police and other emergency services (even when they’re not heading to an incident) If anything, people following the designated limit (40mkh for cars) are also seen as much as a nuisance so it’s not just scooters. As someone else mentioned, the laws were made decades ago and haven’t been updated since. Also, 80kmh for highways? Seriously? Fuck that.
Driving much slower or faster than the flow of traffic is dangerous, I agree. However complaint on here won’t change anything. If it bothers you that much then get your small bike license and buy a 125cc scooter.
The speed limit for scooters and bicycles in Japan is more of a suggestion….
I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone going 30km on a scooter tbh
Then don’t ride one, I have a super cub that I use between my house and my factory, good fun, but thats it. They are meant for small trips not for sitting in the middle of a highway.
No one on a scooter actually follows that 30 km/h law though. At least, I’ve never come across one.
…I guess that makes it all the more stupid.
That’s a long unstructured paragraph and quite difficult to extract logical argument from. It’s like you sat there and just went “bleh bleh” to the keyboard until you calmed down.
But I can understand how you feel!
Even driving a car, it irritates the hell out of me how close drivers will come before overtaking. It’s just dangerous. Makes me want to slow down to 30mph for safety!
I’d say you are brave to be driving a 50cc here and I can definitely imagine you getting home and wanting to rant about it!!
Personally I think all scooters should be removed from the road. For that matter, get rid of all motorcycles. They’re a noisy menace to society. Allow e-bikes instead.
That said, 50cc scooters have low limits because of how easy it is to get a license for them, and because even 16yo kids can get licenses for them. Those limits are not likely to go away.
> So I always ride 10 under the car limit because it’s just dangerous to follow the 30 kmh restriction.
That’s a bad idea. Did you know that multiple traffic tickets (which is what you are going to end up with) will disqualify you for PR or naturalization? Get a real bike license if you want to ride faster and not have to follow the other 50cc specific rules.
Exactly
I said that scooters were more dangerous than motorcycles because of THIS before and I got downvoted like crazy on here.
Imo it’s much safer to be moving at the same speed as traffic and not having people weaving around you.
Get a real bike OP. Good luck. Don’t die plz.
You still go 30 on your scooter? I’m always pulling my gas handle all the way. Hahahaha