Asahi.com: Point of View - Masaki Kudo: Just like motorists, bicyclists need education

I founded an anticrime volunteer group in Akita in spring 2006. Since then, the members have been patrolling the streets by car and on foot, before and after work and on their days off. Last year, an elementary schoolboy was murdered in Akita Prefecture. Because of that, we place special emphasis on looking out for suspicious persons and calling on minors to watch out for their safety.

While patrolling the streets, I routinely come across reckless cyclists. On rainy days, it is common to see people steering their bicycles with only one hand and holding an umbrella with the other.

I also often see young cyclists talking on their cellphones, running along dark streets without their lights on, rushing through intersections and ignoring stop signs. Close collisions with pedestrians are common.

For young children, I think the chances of being hit and injured or killed by bicycles are far greater than falling victim to heinous crime.

Bicycles are light vehicles that are subject to regulations stipulated by the road traffic law. Offenses such as riding bicycles after dark without lights are punishable by law.

Under the “traffic violation notification system,” violators are issued so-called blue tickets for violations of traffic rules and are required to pay fines as part of administrative measures.

However, this system does not apply to bicycles. For this reason, in order for police to take action against bicycle offenses no matter how minor, they have no choice but to issue red tickets that make offenders criminally punishable.

In April 2006, the National Police Agency issued a notice concerning the application of “stronger measures to enforce traffic guidance toward bicycle users.” In May this year, it started intensive crackdown on violators, which I heard has led to a growing number of cases of regulating violators.

But actually, while patrolling Akita streets, we have witnessed on numerous occasions police officers at intersections doing nothing to stop cyclists holding umbrellas or using cellphones.

In fact, violations are so common today that police are turning a blind eye without controlling or warning violators.

The fact that there is no license system for bicycles like cars is also a problem. So is the lack of opportunities for cyclists to undergo proper traffic safety education. While many schools are organizing traffic safety programs, most of them focus on how children should protect themselves from cars with little emphasis on how they are required to observe traffic regulations and follow the law when they ride bicycles.

As a result, few children are given the opportunity to learn traffic regulations until they grow up and obtain a driver’s license. Those who do not get a driver’s license may end up riding bicycles without ever learning the rules of the road.

A fundamental way to improve the situation would be to introduce a license system for cyclists and make bicycles subject to the traffic violation notification system. That would make it easier to crack down on violators. But revising such systems takes time.

Therefore, I wish to propose making it a requirement for junior and senior high schools to conduct traffic safety education based on the viewpoint of cyclists.

They should teach students the importance of traffic regulations, call attention to punishments and show what happens when bicyclists cause major accidents.

Such programs would be more effective if the police properly provided warnings and took appropriate measures to regulate violators.

It may seem like a roundabout way but in the end, I believe changing the awareness of individual cyclists is the shortest and most effective way to prevent accidents and reckless riding.