Rental e-scooters are becoming an increasingly popular way to get around Japan for both locals and tourists. However, you have to be careful where you ride the things. Indeed, the laws are confusing enough that even some Japanese people are running afoul of them. One man recently found this out the hard way in the form of a ticket.
E-scooters have soared in popularity in Japan ever since a legal change last year. The new transportation law created a new class of vehicles, Specified Small Motorized Bicycles (特定小型原動機付自転車; tokutei kogata gendouki jitensha), that are primarily for use on the road but don’t require a driver’s license to operate.
That makes the devices convenient for both non-driving city dwellers as well as tourists who didn’t show up to Japan with an international driver’s license. However, it’s creating headaches for drivers as e-scooter users routinely violate the rules.
Stick to the road
It seems even some Japanese people can’t keep the rules straight. One man in his 40s told Bengoshi Dot Com recently that he got a 6000 yen ($39) fine, which he “couldn’t agree with.”
His crime? Using the e-scooter on a sidewalk bicycle lane.
Generally, e-scooters belong on the road. Technically, you can use them on the sidewalk so long as you don’t exceed speeds of 6kph (3.7mph). Most scooter users stick to the street, using the left-hand bicycle lane.
However, many Japanese cities like Tokyo also have bike lanes on a number of sidewalks. Large sidewalks are often split into a pedestrian and a bicycle side.
(Don’t get me started on how this is a nightmare in practice because neither pedestrians nor cyclists stick to their designated lanes. That’s a gripe for a whole other article.)
Our beleaguered e-scooter user thought that he could use his device in any bicycle lane – even one on the sidewalk. But the police officer who stopped him told him that was a no-no.
That doesn’t mean you can’t ride an e-scooter on the sidewalk! You just have to obey the speed limits. E-scooters such as the ones rented by LUUP come with a button that turns the device into an “Exceptional Specified Small Motorized Bicycle,” limiting its top speed to 6kph.
So key takeaway: You need to press that button if you’re gonna join the pedestrians. Otherwise, you may leave Japan about 6000 yen poorer than you expected.
For a list of other rules governing e-scooters, check out this handy pamphlet from Tokyo’s Bureau of Citizens, Culture & Sports. Other important rules include obeying all traffic lights and turn signals, as well as making “hook turns,” or two-stage right turns, to turn right rather than using the right-turn lane.
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Sources
えっ「自転車マーク」あれば走れるんじゃないの？ 電動キックボードの違反で反則金「6000円」納得できない男性の戸惑い. Bengoshi Dot Com
特定小型原動機付自転車に関する交通ルール等について. Tokyo Metro Police
