Liability and the Law Surrounding Cycling in Japan

 In the United States, everyone always has suing or being sued in the back of their minds.  Good or bad, his is a cultural phenomenon.  Many people want to extract some financial vengeance when they feel they have been wronged, or want to use the legal system to punish those they feel are deserving.

The other side of the coin is that many people are afraid of being sued, which may limit what they do, including whether they are willing to get involved to help people, etc.  This can be an unfortunate side-effect, but at the same time, it doesn't mean that everyone is always well behaved. 

In the world of cycling, there is often a trade-off between doing what everyone else does, doing what is realistic, and following the letter of the law.  

For example, the law in Japan says that bicycles basically must follow the same traffic laws as cars, including stopping at stop signs, etc., with some exceptions:

1. You should stay to the left side of the left-most lane, in the cycle lane if there is one.

2. You should not drive on high speed highways (like toll roads, etc).

3. You should not ride on the sidewalk (except in "exceptional" cases)

4. You should follow the direction of traffic, and not go the wrong way - except that you can go the wrong way down most one way roads

etc., etc.

I try to always follow the rules to the maximum extent possible.  On the road, though, things are of course not so cut and dried.  

For example, staying in the left lane makes sense, but what about when the left lane separates and veers off in another direction you down't want to go?  Well then you need to stay in the "new" left lane, which for some distance will be the middle lane.  Sometimes you can follow the original left lane a bit until you come to a cross-walk where you can cross and then get back to the straight road - but that's certainly not what a car would do.  

What about when there is a a bicycle lane, but car after car is parked in it?  You can't very well ride in a lane full of cars.  What's more, if there are no parked cars for a short distance, you would be tempted to ride in the cycle lane where you can - but that means you will have to swerve out of the cycle lane when you do come across a parked car, which may surprise any driver behind you.  All of this means that a cycle lane with even an occasional parked car on a busy road may not be usable at all.

The prohibition on sidewalk riding is probably the most ignored rule in Japan.  Many, possibly most people ride on the sidewalk in certain areas.  You are only allowed to ride on the sidewalk as an exception if you feel unsafe on the road, but that makes an easy excuse, as you can almost always say "I felt unsafe".  My personal rule is that if the speed limit is under 50, I will almost always ride on the road.  Even where the speed limit is 50, I may ride on the road if it is a road I know well, or the cars aren't actually moving that fact (f.e. in central Tokyo).  On the other hand, I avoid roads with no shoulders that guard rails and fences - there is nowhere to escape to if a drunk or careless driver comes along.  

You are supposed to stop for stop lights, but you are also allowed to act like a pedestrian in those exceptional cases, which means if the cars have a red light, but the pedestrians have a green walk light, you can technically move to the sidewalk, cross at the pedestrian crosswalk, and then move back to the road.  Whether this makes sense to do has a lot to do with the number of pedestrians, the number of cars, how fast you are going, and what the area looks like.  

The police don't stop cyclists often, and it's usually over blatantly running red lights, riding at night without lights, or a similar offense.  

Having lived in the US, though, I also think about the lawsuit / legal angle.  

I am always shocked when I read articles from the UK and other places, where it seems drivers operate with impunity and hit cyclists all the time with little punishment, while cyclists seem to be constantly harassed for using the road they are entitled to use.  Based on what I have read, the spirit in Japan is a lot more cooperative.  Most people have a bike, or someone in their family does.  This means that when you see a cyclist on the road, it's not some spandex freak doing something wholly unnecessary, but someone just like your spouse or children.  You might be driving to the beach at the moment on the weekend but maybe you ride your bike to the supermarket or the train station to go to work every day.  

The other thing is the standard of care / hierarchy of responsibility.  I don't know the official name for this, but basically when there is a traffic accident, lacking strong evidence, the "stronger" party is generally found guilty.  

This means that in an accident with a car vs. a motorcycle, the car driver will be found guilty.  

With Car or Motorcycle vs. bicycle, the vehicle with an engine will be found to be at fault.

Likewise, though, when it's a bicycle vs. pedestrian, the bicycle will be found at fault.  

Of course my primary motivation is always going to be to avoid getting into any accident at all, and failing that, avoid anyone getting hurt - but I always keep the rules above in mind.

For example: The road legally belongs to card, trucks, bicycles, and motorcycles, but the sidewalk belongs to pedestrians.  That means that even though you can get away with your "exceptional" riding on the sidewalk all day long, if there is an accident the person on the bicycle will almost certainly be at fault.  This is because not only was the bicycle the stronger party, but they were doing something they weren't really technically supposed to be doing at all.  

If you keep this in mind, then you should be extra careful to watch for people when riding on the sidewalk.  It also means that impatient cyclists should never be ringing their bells at pedestrians on the sidewalk.  Remember: You are a guest on the sidewalk.

This also means that as a cyclist you are generally going to be the weakest party when you are on the road, and you probably won't be found to be at fault.  Of course being victorious in court doesn't help if you're severely injured, but it is something to think about.  If you do something clearly not allowed, like running a red light, riding without lights at night, or going the wrong way down a two-way road - then you are giving the judge a good reason to find you at fault.  That gives you a second reason to think twice before taking shortcuts around the rules.  

As much as Japan is a country of people who follow the rules for the sake of the rules, cycling rules are often not too heavily enforced - but remember, when you do get into an accident, some judge will be looking at whether you did was legal.  

Because I record video of many of my rides, I occasionally have the chance to review them and see something and think "Oh! I shouldn't have done that!", but for the most part, recording also reminds me to follow the rules.  For example, if I am going fairly fast and trying to decide whether to stop for a yellow light, I think "What example would I want to set for those watching this video?"  While that won't make me decide to come to a dangerous screeching halt just for a light that has just turned yellow, it will bias my decision to be a bit more conservative - which is a good thing.  Traffic lights and the like are not fun, but neither are accidents!