There is a pedestrian crossing, without a traffic light, near my home where I repeatedly see drivers almost run over people crossing, including myself, as it is close to a traffic light (about 20m before/after it) and drivers (of course) speed up to make it through the light. Almost everyone speeds on this road as well, which is adjacent to several parks were children are playing almost all the time. It’s only a matter of time before someone is hurt or killed. Who should I contact? The ward? Police? Some other party?
8 comments
Unless the police have enough resources to have a near constant presence there I don’t think much will change. That’s just how people drive here.
Be safe out there.
If you were in your home country who would you contact? Find the local equivalent and contact them.
Your best bet at getting something done would be to organize a community response from the people living in the area and go to the police with it. If you complain by yourself they’ll most likely just write up a report and file it.
It’s the same everwhere really. The road by my local park has a blind stop sign that drivers always just completely ignore. Scary as children are always walking by on their way to the park.
My only advice would be to perhaps talk with some of the residents / neighbourhood association and see if you can lobby as a group to have something done about it. The park should also have some kind of neighbourhood group attached to it. So might be worth trying there.
I would videotape these occurrences, make note of how often you perceive them, petition the neighbors, then file a complaint with the nearest prefectural police station and additionally the civil engineering office at city hall.
Our city has a traffic safety section on their website where you can report spots that are of concern. It seems to be a community program that works with the police and has local school (PTA) liasons.
There’s a crosswalk the kids must use to get to school & cars used to speed through it. Our group contacted the city and within a week, police had patrols out on foot. Improved greatly. Hope you can find a similar solution.
Have one of these crosswalks where I am. It’s the school group crossing. There’s a koban 20 meters away. I went in and did the dumb gaijin thing. I said I didn’t know the rules in Japan, but in my country drivers had to stop at pedestrian crossings. What is the rule in Japan, so I can be safe? The drivers here ignore the crossing completely. He gave the standard “I really don’t want to answer this” vibe and actually had the balls to say “The rule is the same in Japan but most drivers don’t care, so be very careful crossing here. Look both ways and only cross when there’s no cars.”. He quite literally told me it was illegal and he can see it out his front window, but he’s not going to do a damn thing about it.
Every time you see a violation call the police. They are here to serve us taxpayers. They are out there 24/7 ticketing people for stopping in front of a conbini, or parked within 5 meters of a crosswalk, collecting the easy money. Let’s bring back real honest police work tht actually benefits the community!