Traffic and Police

Recently a chinese student from my university died in a traffic accident while riding his scooter. In Brazil, where traffic accidents are among the main causes of death, this wouldn't be a surprise. However, we're in Japan, the country of cars and traffic organization. Something had to be done. So, the international student's office decided to make a lecture about safety in traffic for foreigners.

At first I laughted at this: while the Brazilian traffic is not so extreme as the Indian one, you have to be careful at all times. Hence, a seminar talking about traffic safety to me is kinda strange. I went there, anyway - who knows what you can learn from these events.

I was the first student to arrive, and honestly I thought that I would be the only one. Later some other international students (mainly chinese and indian) came to join the show. The staff made us see an educational video in english, teaching to look to both sides of the street, use reflective materials, etc etc. An interesting thing about japanese traffic is that, although it's very well organized, the bicycle department suffers a lot:

• There are too many bicycles. When your bike gets old and you want to throw it away, you have to pay a "big garbage" fee. As a result, MANY people just abandon the poor vehicle in parks and other places.
• There are few bike parking places. So, just park anywhere hoping that you'll face no traffic officer.
• When you are going straight and another bike comes from the opposite direction, neither of you knows which direction to turn. Left? Light? Its funny and dangerous at the same time.

In fact there are some "rules" in bike traffic, but nobody obeys them. For example, theoretically you can't ride holding a mobile phone or umbrella, neither ride with another person in the same bike. "No parking" signs are normally ignored, also. At least these "crimes" are not so bad: its nothing compared to drunk-driving, for example. Japan is still the safest place :)

The funny thing was when a traffic officer started to talk about, guess what, traffic. But he was not only a traffic officer: he was a magician. And by that I mean the guy who makes "magic" tricks with cards, balls and stuff like that. There I was, in a seminar about traffic safety, watching some policeman doing simple tricks.

You can only find these kind of law officer in a country like Japan.

Needless to say that I was surprised... strange how, in my place, "authority and respect" (almost fear?) are important characteristics in the police, but here in Japan the "scary" image is replaced by a complacent, friendly smile.

That's the mascot for the Aichi Prefecture Police

I particularly like this politeness. I wonder, though, how effective is our little owl in the combat against crime...