It seems that there've been crackdowns on the dangerous electric bikes due to amendments to the Road Traffic Act.
When walking through the streets of Kabukicho, I often encounter electric bikes with tires as thick as regular motorbike, look clearly powerful, I didn't know they're called mopeds. It's a common sight to see people who have clearly been drinking running through the narrow alleyways of Kabukicho at a considerable speed, and I always thought it was dangerous and scary.
歌舞伎町の街を歩いているとよく遭遇するタイヤの太さは普通のバイク並みの明らかにパワフルそうな電動自転車、モペットってって言うんだね。そんなモペット、明らかに酒を飲んだ人が結構な速度で細い歌舞伎町の路地を走り回っているのはよく見る光景で、危ないなー、怖いなーって思っていた。
On November 1st, the Road Traffic Act was revised, making it mandatory for moped riders to carry a driver license, wear a helmet, and display a license plate. In essence, mopeds have been officially classified in the same category as motorbikes, according to the article above. And in line with the revision of the Road Traffic Act, there was a crackdown in Shinjuku area, the article says.
You can see it immediately when you see it actually running, but it's clearly beyond the realm of a bike. I wouldn't want to be run over by a normal bike, but being run over by that bulky...thing that looks like a mini motorbike, just with pedals attached would be too scary.
上の記事によると11月1日に道路交通法が改正されてそのモペットは免許証の携帯、ヘルメットの着用、あとナンバープレートの装着とかが義務化、要は正式にバイクと同じ分類にされたらしい。そしてその道交法の改正に合わせて新宿界隈で一斉取り締まりがあったと。
この道交法の改正自体は自分はあまり知らなかったんだけど、まあそれが自然だよなーってのが感じ。というのが実際に走行しているところを見ればすぐにわかるんだけど、明らかに自転車の域を超えている。普通の自転車に轢かれるのも嫌だけど、あのゴツい・・・見た目もペダルが付いている以外は完全に小型バイクなあんなのに轢かれたら怖すぎる。
Those electric bikes called mopeds are now treated the same as regular motorbikes, so it'll be easier to enforce than regular bikes not the same to regular bikes which is not easy to enforce because a driver license is not required and traffic violation notification system doesn't work well. In addition, not wearing a helmet or not displaying a license plate are violations, so not only does enforcement play a role, but it also serves as a deterrent to violations.
This is completely unrelated, but when I searched for some photos of mopeds to write this article, because I must've taken photos of them and found some, and it made me think once again that I actually take quite a lot of photos of incidents that happen in Kabukicho.
今後は普通のバイクと同じ扱いになるってことなので、そうなれば免許証がいらないが故に交通反則通告制度もなくって取り締まりがしづらい普通の自転車よりも取り締まりもしやすくなるだろう。それにヘルメットをかぶっていないとかナンバープレートを装着していないとかが違反になるってことで、取り締まりもそうだけど違反への抑止力にもなるだろう。
全然関係ないけど、この記事書くのに絶対に過去にモペットの写真撮ってるはずだって探したら出てくる辺り、歌舞伎町で起きるような事案の写真はそれなりに結構よく撮っているんだなーって改めて思った。
