An electric scooter was spotted early Tuesday morning on the Metropolitan Expressway in Tokyo¡¯s Shibuya Ward, prompting highway officials to release video footage on social media to warn riders of the extreme danger.
The Metropolitan Expressway operator said the incident occurred at around 3 a.m. on the inbound lane of the Shibuya Route. Video the company released shows an individual unlawfully riding an electric scooter onto the highway for about 1 kilometer, sometimes veering from the shoulder into traffic lanes. Fortunately, drivers were able to spot the scooter in time and avoided a serious accident, the company said.
While electric scooters are permitted on regular roads, their use on expressways is strictly prohibited due to the heightened risk of fatal accidents.
In a post on social media platform X, the highway operator urged riders not to enter highways under any circumstances. Riders who accidentally do so should call a road emergency hotline, according to the operator, which also said that it will refer examples of deliberate entry to the police.
The incident highlights growing concerns over electric scooter-related traffic violations, which have surged following the relaxation of regulations under a revised road traffic law in July 2023.
According to the National Police Agency, there were 25,156 e-scooter traffic violation cases in the year following the revised law¡¯s enactment, with 55% involving violations of traffic distribution rules, such as illegally riding on sidewalks. Tuesday¡¯s incident marks the seventh such case of an electric scooter entering the Metropolitan Expressway.
Daiki Okai ¡ª CEO of Luup, a major electric scooter-sharing service provider based in Tokyo ¡ª attributed the rise in infractions to ¡°a small number of users repeatedly committing violations,¡± emphasizing the need for stricter penalties to curb misconduct, he said in a recent interview with Jiji Press.
¡°We don¡¯t need revenue from a handful of malicious violators. There¡¯s no room for leniency,¡± he said.
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