{"id":1464,"date":"2010-02-27T00:42:01","date_gmt":"2010-02-26T15:42:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2010-02-27\/1464"},"modified":"2010-02-27T00:42:01","modified_gmt":"2010-02-26T15:42:01","slug":"speed-trap-japanese-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2010-02-27\/1464","title":{"rendered":"Speed Trap, Japanese Style"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\nNOTE<\/b>: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f\/2.8 @ 82 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>500 sec, f<\/span>\/6.3, ISO 400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nFishing for Speeders<\/span>\nnear the main entrance to Kyoto University\n<\/div>\n\n

For something a bit different from my normal fare of late, here are some\npictures of a Japanese<\/span> speed trap I took<\/span> a couple<\/span> of years ago. In front<\/span> of\nKyoto University where lots of college kids are, well, being college kids,\nit's not at all uncommon to see a speed<\/span> trap set up here.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f\/2.8 @ 190 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>750 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nLooks Like I Got<\/span> a Live<\/span> One<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

He's actually checking the color of the license plate of a scooter<\/span> that\njust passed. If it's white (meaning it has a 49cc<\/span> engine) the driver will\nget a ticket.<\/span> If yellow<\/span> or pink (larger engines, up to 124cc), they're\nokay.<\/p>\n\n

If you're caught, here's what you face 100m down the road, just after a slight<\/span> bend...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f\/2.8 @ 200 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1600 sec, f<\/span>\/4, ISO 400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nH A L T !<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f\/2.8 @ 110 mm, cropped — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1600 sec, f<\/span>\/4, ISO 400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nYes, You<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f\/2.8 @ 110 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2000 sec, f<\/span>\/4, ISO 400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nBring It Over Here, Bub<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f\/2.8 @ 116 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2000 sec, f<\/span>\/4, ISO 400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nBusted<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

And I see a scooter there too, so maybe he did have a live<\/span> one in the\nsecond photo.<\/p>\n\n

The first time I ever saw a policeman stepping into traffic with the big\norange “Stop” flag to nab someone, it was right in front of me on a crowded<\/span>\nslow-moving four-lane major thoroughfare in Kyoto (Sanjo St., near\nHigashiooji St.). He stepped<\/span> right in front of my car with a\nseriously<\/i> agitated, angry pissed off<\/i> look, and having no idea\nwhat was going on other than I had<\/span> apparently done something really bad, my\nadrenaline shot through the roof. And just like<\/span> that he stormed past,\nintent on someone in the lane next to me, a car<\/span> or two behind. Pretty much\nneeded a change<\/span> of shorts after that.<\/p>\n\n

I did get a speeding ticket once, about 15 years ago, while riding my\nmotorcycle in the countryside between Nagaokakyou and Takatsuki. I was just<\/span>\ngoing with the flow of traffic, which happened to be traveling at a\nsomewhat<\/span> more reasonable pace than the 31mph limit. I found<\/span> out then the\nother half to the Japanese approach to speed enforcement. The half I<\/span> knew\nwas that enforcement is very lax, as if no one really cares, and your\nchances of getting pulled over for speeding (or running red lights, for\nthat matter) is almost nonexistent. The half I<\/span> learned that day was that if\nyou do<\/i> get pulled over, you're totally screwed.<\/p>\n\n

My penalty for going 9.5mph over the speed limit was a $400 fine and\nloss of my license for a month,<\/span> though that was reduced to one day after\ntaking an all-day class at traffic school where we learned things like\n“red means stop<\/i>”. When it was done there was a\n40<\/span>-question test (provided for me, kindly, in English) with questions like\n“what color means stop?”. We had 20<\/span> minutes, and I finished<\/span> it\nin three. I brought<\/span> it up, and the instructors were totally shocked, as if\nI was<\/span> throwing away my entire day by abandoning the test. They asked\n“don't you even want to doublecheck your answers, just to make\nsure?” to which I replied<\/span> “I did.<\/span> Twice.” They were\ncompletely dumbfounded when I got<\/span> every question right.... it wasn't like\nCalifornia's written test, with questions like ”how many feet\nbefore an intersection do you need to initiate your turn signal, when in a\nSchool<\/span> Zone that is also a Designated<\/span> Residential Revitalization District?\nChoose from among 72<\/b>, 83<\/b>, 69<\/b>, or\n64<\/b>.<\/i>”<\/p>\n\n

I was equally dumbfounded, that they were dumbfounded. Well, we all know\nthat “other drivers” are morons, and so here was my proof. (Course, I was right<\/span> there with them, wallet $400 lighter, day completely wasted, so I\nfelt<\/span> pretty much the moron, too.)<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For something a bit different from my normal fare of late, here are some pictures of a Japanese speed trap I took a couple of years ago. In front of Kyoto University where lots of college kids are, well, being college kids, it's not at all uncommon to see a speed trap set up here.<\/p>

He's actually checking the color of the license plate of a scooter that just passed. If it's white (meaning it has a 49cc engine) the driver will get a ticket. If yellow or pink (larger engines, up to 124cc), they're okay.<\/p>

If you're caught, here's [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1464"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1464\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}