Mar 11, 2017
Getting stopped by the police on my bicycle
To many of your knowledge or surprises, having your earphones in while riding a bicycle is, in fact, illegal in Japan. The police may stop you and give you a fine if they see you doing it.
I learned about that law on my way home from work one day, listening to my favourite music, and the police standing at the street corner signaled me to stop my bike.
"Sir, you can't have your headphones in while riding a bicycle."
Even after I've explained my ignorance, I was given a warning ticket and promised that I'd change.
From that day on, I started riding my bike with only ONE earphone in.
Fast forward a year, I was stopped again. Apparently, ONE earphone is also not okay, and there I got another warning ticket from a different police officer. Lucky for me, I was let off with just a warning, but they had all the rights to fine me for the "dangerous behaviour", so you bicycle riders out there, watch out!
9 Comments
edthethe
on Mar 11
also not having a working light on your bike, even if it's only dark thirty and still pretty visible outside. I was almost ticketed for that as well. Im surprised you were given an actual ticket warning though. Mine were just verbal.
SalarymanJim
on Mar 11
Interesting. What does the ticket mean exactly? How many tickets before a fine? I've seen people get 'pulled over' for having someone ride on the back of their bike, a few times now. I was 'buzzed' by a patrol car once for crossing (on foot) the traffic lights when they were on red. A bit excessive I think.
DaveJpn
on Mar 13
My girlfriend was given a ticket for not using a light on her back when she was cycling home after work. It seems the police officer was specifically waiting to catch people out in this situation. Which kind of made me thing, Don't that have more important tasks to do?
JapanRamen
on Mar 16
@edthethe Yes, that was during a period in the prefecture when the police were out to promote/enforce bike safety, so when I got caught, I was surprised that the ticket was only a warning with no fine.
JapanRamen
on Mar 16
@SalarymanJim The ticket merely meant that my bad act was caught and I had to promise that I wouldn't do it again, which felt kinda like speaking to a teacher in elementary school haha.
JapanRamen
on Mar 16
@DaveJpn I guess it shows how peaceful this country really is haha
DaveJpn
on Mar 24
@Jackson Yea, guess so.
SalarymanJim
on Mar 28
@Jackson That's quite funny! Maybe they could just cut the paper bit out and give a verbal warning. Although perhaps the 'paper' adds a bit of extra weight.
JapanRamen
on Mar 29
@SalarymanJim Well the bright red sure made it a lot scarier! If this was soccer match and I received one of those, I'd have been deported already!