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news
White cycle helmetJapan to make cycle helmets compulsory for all cyclists from next April
All cyclists in Japan will be required to wear a cycle helmet while riding their bikes under a new law that will come into force on 1 April next year – although there will apparently be no sanction for those who choose not to do so.
The measure forms part of the country’s revised Road Traffic Act, which was approved by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s cabinet yesterday, reports Mainichi.jp.
Japan, which currently requires children aged below 13 years to wear a cycle helmet will join Argentina, Australia, Cyprus and New Zealand as the only countries that have national mandatory cycle helmet laws applying to all cyclists.
However, unlike in New South Wales, for example, where riding without a cycle helmet can attract an on-the-spot fine of A$344 (£190), there will be no sanction for cyclists in Japan who break the law by riding bare-headed.
Some other countries require children to wear helmets when cycling, while in Spain, anyone riding a bike outside urban areas must use one.
In Canada, some provinces make it compulsory for all cyclists to wear a helmet, others make them mandatory only for riders aged under 16, and several provinces have no compulsory helmet laws at all.
Likewise, in the United States, making cyclists use a helmet varies between jurisdiction and by age, and even within individual states there may be differing local laws in force depending on the area.
Levels of wearing a cycle helmet in Japan are very low compared to the UK, with a poll from a helmet advocacy group finding that 11.2 per cent of cyclists wear one; in the same year, research found that London has by far the highest rate of cycle helmet usage in Europe among the cities analysed, with six in ten riders sporting one.
Last month, the Department for Transport confirmed it had no plans to make cycle helmets mandatory in the UK. after Mark Pritchard, Conservative MP for The Wrekin, raised the issue in a written question.
> Government shuts down mandatory cycling helmets question from Conservative MP
He asked whether the Secretary of State for Transport would “hold discussions with road safety and cycle representative groups on making it a legal requirement for cyclists to wear helmets on public roads?
In response, Jesse Norman, Minister of State at the Department for Transport, said that the issue had been considered “at length” but rejected as part of the government’s cycling and walking safety review in 2018.
He said: “The safety benefits of mandating cycle helmets for cyclists are likely to be outweighed by the fact that this would put some people off cycling, thereby reducing the wider health and environmental benefits.
The Department recommends that cyclists should wear helmets, as set out in the Highway Code, but has no intention to make this a legal requirement,” he added.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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17 comments
90 year old Japanese man crawls by on ancient bike at 6kph....
Anyone with a statista account can probably check the source of this report and the relevant data.
Japan: body parts injured in bicycle fatalities 2021 | Statista
Never go full Japan
I think Japanese cycling is one of the few examples where it might be "it is the culture, it won't work here".
As opposed to other countries on the European mainland with cultures much more akin to ours where they have just decided to tame the car. And where "normal people" have embraced cycling for journeys where it has become the most convenient way to travel and where it feels safe.
For a moment though I was thinking "You don't like rinko?"
I was under the impression that Japan had lots of (utility) cyclists and that it very much is part of their culture.
https://www.icebike.org/guide-japanese-bike-culture/
Yes - I was just assuming that the OP was likening this to "go full Dutch" but suggesting that - despite the Japanese (as I understand it) having lots of cycling in places and a "cycling culture" - this wouldn't be a good idea if it involved taking on their helmet ideas also.
I'm glad it works for them. I've never been (South Korea was the closest I got). However the Dutch (and 2nd rate Danish) approach looks more convenient to me. And doesn't rely so much on everyone being polite. Cyclists on the cycle path, pedestrians on the pavement; the two are separate (almost always) and it's really clear to all who goes where.
Now, like explaining a joke, I feel a bit foolish though.
Japan's only real secret is that you can't park on the street.
So not so much a case of actually building cycle infra so much as a shining example of not devoting 100% of the road to the whims of motorists.
When I was there, a walk back from the waterfront to the city yielded a fascinating collection of bike photographs...https://flic.kr/s/aHsjwb13RZ
No familiar brands in evidence
I thought this one looks cool for cruising around town
Those are great, a few have well-known names but something doesn't quite match...
A Colnago hybrid? Louis Garneau, a clothing brand? Chevrolet?
Utility cycling in Tokyo and Yokohama is ultra common (I have not lived anywhere else in Japan). My colleagues who cycled to the station or office etc rarely identifed as being cyclists.
I will talk to some old friends and colleagues to ask what they make of this. Off the top of my head it might be driven by the popularity of e-bikes (increased speed) or it might simply be aimed at sports cyclists.
In the heat of a Tokyo Summer I used to pootle around on a single speed mama-chari (think Dutch bike) at barely 10km p/hour, mostly on shared-pavements. Contrary to the exemplary behaviour of train commuters, pedestrians etc drivers were just as unpleasant there as they are in south-eastern England.
I've seen the reports about Japan bringing in this new law, and I haven't seen anything that says they have consulted widely or investigated the actual effects of a helmet law. They appear to have bought into the factoid that helmets save lives, therefore they are good, without looking at the unintended side effects, exactly the same as the other countries which have such a law. Strange behaviour for a country renowned for its thoroughness and logic. I haven't seen any reports of the national cycle organisation opposing this measure, but presumably they do.
My admiration for the Japanese has taken a serious blow.
One positive aspect is that there's no apparent penalty for getting caught without a helmet, so the police are less likely to abuse the law to penalise minorities. I've heard that the Japanese tend to be very law abiding, so I guess they think that just having the law will be enough without needing penalties.
Interesting to see how their numbers for cycling and injuries progresses in the future.
One unintended consequence of the helmet law in Australia is that law-abiding people always wear one, whereas the 'bogan' element that habitually break laws, such as stealing the bike they are riding, never wear one; a tendency noted by police who use the lack of helmet wearing to stop the offender and check them out for other offences.
So, they choose to target the poor and disadvantaged to stop and search just because they're on a bike and haven't got or choose not to wear a helmet? Sounds like a tool of racist oppression to me.
https://www.uow.edu.au/media/2019/over-the-top-policing-of-bike-helmet-laws-targets-vulnerable-riders.php
https://road.cc/content/news/268038-australias-mandatory-helmet-laws-have-become-tool-disproportionate-penalties-and
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2012/nov/13/helmets-australia
Too bad the UK police don't adopt a similar logic towards motorist running illegal/absent number plates, missing MOT, insurance, VED, etc - all of which are trivially easy to detect.
The anpr equipped cars of the Police Interceptors appear to use it as a sign of wrong'unness.