All-Japan 24 Hour Traffic Cop Show
...or some sort of title like that anyway...
A couple of nights back I watched a two-hour special on assorted
car-related crime, and the only conclusion I came to was that J
driving laws, and the police enforcing them, are *extremely* weak.
Here's a few examples:
Guy, a bit drunk, stopped for breath test, I think, starts getting
rowdy, shoving the police guys and generally ending all his sentences
with -KORYAA! I would guess the average guy in the UK would also get
done for assault, or breach of the peace, or something for the barging
of the cops, but no, he was allowed to carry on.
They had a speed trap - one guy on a moped (I thought mopeds were
speed-limited to 50kph?) spots the cops up ahead with the STOP flags,
so dodges down a side street, but after a few minutes chase gets
caught and returns to the roadside ticket issuing spot. Result - 1
point and a 7000 yen fine for speeding, nothing for running away.
Same speed trap - another larger bike riding down the gutter lane
splits the two cops with the STOP flags, who have to jump out of the
way. Chase ensues, guy returns to get ticket, once again 1 point and
7000 yen, nothing for nearly running over two cops.
More cops catching people using the hard shoulder on the motorway -
nick the driver for being unlicenced, but not a word about the two
young kids (perhaps 3 to 7 years old) climbing about unrestrained.
Another guy nicked for drunk driving (0.20 mg or whatever the units
are) - claims to have been drinking non-alcohol beer, police suggest
it might have been low-alcohol instead. Even at 0.5% alcohol, I would
think it would be pretty much impossible to get accidentally drunk on
the stuff, unless you get into drinking a few pints per hour?
Most of these sort of police shows I saw in the UK would make at least
some attempt to teach the viewer a few points about the law, but as
far as I could understand there was virtually no attempt in this show.
Oh, and what's with blurring out all the criminals' faces? I thought
once someone commits a crime they have no right to privacy, but does
the law not back-date in Japan or something?
Ken
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