In a bid to crack down on illegal use of e-scooters in Japan, the country’s leading rental service announced it’s permanently suspended someone who clearly broke the rules – and endangered their life and the lives of others.
The incident occurred on December 3rd, 2024, when a user of the LUUP e-scooter service entered the Shuto Expressway in Tokyo near an entrance in Shibuya around 3am. The incident was captured on security cameras released by the Metropolitan Expressway Company, which says the person managed to travel around 1km on the busy intra-city highway system.
This wasn’t the only such case. In total, seven e-scooter users last year entered the expressway system. Metro Expressway says that, thankfully, there have been no injuries.
In an announcement yesterday on its website, LUUP, which operates the majority of rental e-scooters in Tokyo, said that it had identified the user in question and “permanently suspended” their account. The company reiterated that taking scooters onto the highway is illegal and added that it would look at “preventative measures” to prevent recurrences.
E-scooter companies like LUUP won a legal provision in Japanese law that enables users to utilize the service without a Japanese driver’s license. That’s led to numerous incidents of tourists and others violating Japanese road rules, such as not using hook turns to turn right. The law also forbids driving the vehicles on the sidewalk unless users activate a special mode that restricts the top speed to 6kph.
IMO, it shouldn’t be difficult for LUUP to work with Metro Expressway to develop a “lockup” mechanism that prevents driving the device onto the highway in the first place. If that’s not feasible for safety reasons, the action should trigger a police alert, immediate account suspension, and fines.
Yes, it’d be nice if people would use common sense. When you make a product like this for the masses, though, relying on common sense is a bad bet.
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