Police have arrested a motorcyclist in Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture, who they claim made peace signs at speed cameras while repeatedly breaking road traffic laws.
According to police, Junichi Wakayama, 36, a freight truck driver, is alleged to have committed a series of speed violations on Route 357 near Narashino between Aug 1 and 10, NTV reported. Police say he passed the speed cameras three times, occasionally driving 60km/p over the speed limit.
Police said Wakayama drove at speeds of over 100 km/h, although he showed signs that he was aware of the existence of the speed cameras, NTV reported.
© Japan Today
38 Comments
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Fadamor
This implies that a different result would have happened if he hadn't known the speed cameras were there. So what was he arrested for - knowingly having his picture taken, or repeatedly exceeding the speed limit by a wide margin? If it was the latter, why would it matter whether he knew the cameras were there or not? Is it some state secret that the public is not supposed to know?
bookbag
So I guess it was a 40kph zone? I don't much like it when the press makes me do math. It makes me suspicious that are not telling me something so as to trick me.
And I cannot help but feel that the speed limit might be set ridiculously low just for the sake of the camera.
some14some
now driving schools should teach their students the meaning of 'peace sign' in Japan.
GG2141
I was driving in a 30 km/h zone a while ago with a flashy light cop on my tail. So I kinda had to do the speedlimit..... It is DIFFICULT to drive at a steady 30 km/h in anything more modern then an ox cart!!! You shift out of 2nd gear and you're speeding.
CrazyJoe
It's very difficult to catch motorcyclists by speed cameras since the motorcycles are not equipped with front license plates.
wontond
Was he arrested for speeding or for not paying the tickets? If he was arrested for speeding, the punishment seems a little strict.
gogogo
Never heard of anyone getting a ticket for speed cameras in Japan.
Elbuda Mexicano
Just proves that you have to be dumb as a box full of rocks to ride around Japan!! On one of them new fangled motorized 2 wheelers.
Elbuda Mexicano
@gogogo My Japanese neighbor driving back from Osaka to Tokyo did not care about these cameras 2 months later he got a letter with a traffic ticket for over 50000 Yen!!
tmarie
Slow news day...
gogogo
@Elbuda Mexicano thanks for the info, I know Japanese GPS's will warn you "drive safe in this area"... is code for "there is a speed camera coming up" but never heard of anyone getting a ticket
Godan
The police I know told me that as long as you are doing less than 30 KM over the speed limit the camera will ignore you. Which explains why if you do get caught on camera, you will be paying a lot of money!
Laz Brezer
He should use MY salute to the cameras - only one finger required www
sillygirl
i know people who have been surprised by a ticket in the mail due to speeding past a camera speed-trap.
timeon
If you speed more than 50 km/h over the legal limit, you have to go to court. the police will also call you countless times to the station and basically harass the hell out of you.
The Munya Times
How does the camera catch them, the camera is front and they have the license plate rear. They hide their face behind the helmet. Motorcyclist can trick out any cameras unless they are stupid enough to provoke the same one repeatedly by making the cops freeze their a$$ there for days waiting for the next attempt.
Otherwise , in Japan it is very easy to over exceed the speed limit, that's why mothers are afraid of pushing their prams with their babies on the highways, for a second they forget the rule and the cameras catch them.
nath
"Easy Rider" syndrome?
Foxie
This guy will have eternal youth. Pulling off such a stunt that normal people do at 18 should lead to an extensive gene research.
mackemack
I understood that making the "V" sign is normal practice when having one's photo taken in Japan.
edbardoe
58 miles per hour? Here in the states no self'-respecting cop would drive that slow on the way to the donut shop?
LH10
lol!! you naughty daredevil u. wish i was riding along with you =^.^= hot
pawatan
It's a local road, not a highway. It's been a ludicrous 40km/h since way before the speed camera was put in there (maybe 2 years ago). It's the only speed camera on that road for maybe 40km, too.
akkk1
mackemackNov. 23, 2011 - 12:31PM JST
I understood that making the "V" sign is normal practice when having one's photo taken in Japan.
Like a Japanese contagion, it has spread all over Asia among young and old for at least 15 years . This annoying habit should be banned.
sunhawk
i wear a full face helmet with a tinted shield. just let the government try to make a speeding ticket stick to me with out being able to see my face for identification.
okimike67
Maveric and Goose used that one and called it the International Peace Sign! ;) And they were going slighly over the 40 kmh threshold for a camera ticket (that is the magic number). Been know to flip the peace sign myself driving through these before. Cameras are not always on so not much of a "real" threat but Koki's (shirobai) on the otherhand.... they are a clear and present danger!
BTW, due to the cost of the film required to catch the pics they really sock it to ya when you get one of these tickets. Couple of friends have got them so they are possible.
Koki's (shirobi) on the otherhand.... they are a clear and present danger!
Brian Sutton
WHO CARES... come on Japan ... this crap makes the news?
nath
That's no crime... that's a statement...
johninnaha
Perhaps this was not the "Peace" sign.
Perhaps it is what is known in England as "flicking a V"?
In any case what is referred to in Japan as a "Peace" sign does not mean peace.
If it were peace, it would be a letter "P."
The raised forefinger and middle fingers represent a "V" for "Victory," in other words, "We won, you lost!"
This is hardly peace, is it?
choiwaruoyaji
At least he wasn't flashing his posterior or worse...
saru_au
well, all the cameras on the TOMEI certainly do not work, I've seen people pass me going what looks like 150
willynilly
last time I flashed the peace sign at the boys in blue, after winding down their window and questioning my intention, they informed me that the two-finger peace sign was given by one hand, not two. Wonder if they got it on camera, but of course, I wasn't speeding on foot.
Maitake
I think it's 30 km/h over the speed limit... i know from experience. got called to the station, interviewed and questioned in a little interrogation room. the pig asked me everything, down to the stupidest most insignificant details. was there for nearly 5 hours. just for speeding..?
nisegaijin
Road 357 near Narashino is a just long straight that goes onto a long overpass. There is no logical reason for that road to have 50km/ hour speed limit. But note to self: thank you japantoday for telling that there is a speed camera, I shall exercise caution.
kurisupisu
He got arrested for making fun of the system not speeding.........
nath
Don't any of you making comments have a life or a job? Apart from deducing that 1. speed camera placing usually has nothing to do with safety, and in most cases everything to do with the appearance of maintaining law and order and with gouging revenue from the public, and 2. that the exercise of law in Japanese is largely arbitrary (and both reflect a pattern of consistency throughout the world it would seem) the comments made appear to be little more than a means of wasting or killing time or perhaps some perverse sense of self aggrandisement - at appearing to be authoritative about the area, or just "current". Nor are any of them very funny.
Gurukun
Hcann, having a bad day, are we?
LH10
lol!!! Hcann -_-
Jerome_from_Utah
Way back when I was stationed in Itazuke AB, the max speed limit for any motorcycle was 40K. What this meant was that anything over 50cc was wasted horsepower. Anybody remember the Honda "Nicest People" ad' campaign?