Yubi |
8 years, 9 months ago on
Japanese rules for Cyclists
Japan is bicycle-friendly, and they are widely used by university and high school students, and mothers with small kids. Some rules regarding bicycles were not strictly enforced until recently. Those are:
You can't ride bicycles on the pavement, unless you are a child or are carrying a child.
If you are cycling on the pavement, you have to be riding on the left side of the road so that you can get on the road when there are too many pedestrians.
These got strictly enforced because of accidents involving old pedestrians.
If you are riding a bicycle without a lock or with a broken lock, you might get checked by the police (they explain this reason when they stop you). Stealing bicycles is one of the common crimes; My neighbourhood has 30,000 residents and about four bicycles get stolen each month. These are usually found somewhere after a student takes it for convenience; otherwise they end up in a South East Asian country.