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To be fair, the cars themselves aren't dangerous - it's the drivers.
Someone running down the road shouting "broom broom" isn't that dangerous. I'm pretty sure the car plays a part.
But yes, someone driving creates the danger.
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You probably mean over 30-40 km/h, not 60.
No I mean up to 60... km/h https://youtu.be/aEHIqqaPIqI And you can see here "normal" bikes clocked at 36 Km: https://youtu.be/FdoViT8-s5I?t=47 you get hit by one of these silent missiles, with an 80kg passenger on it, you spend weeks in hospital...you are older person, its life threatening... Amsterdam bikes are terrifying :-))
The headline is a bit misleading because it was already 30km/h on many narrow streets. Something about speed limits in Japan, almost no one follows them. I’ve seen police cars go past speeding cameras without their lights on while exceeding the speed limit by ~20% and everyone around them was doing the same. This sounds like it would be a super dangerous place to drive then, but the speed limits are pretty low on loc…
> Source: I’m working for a rental car company in Japan Then you should know the posted speed limit is low for enforcement reasons. And yes, the Japanese government and society decided to have a fake speed limit and a real speed limit, rather than change the threshold at which speeding is a prosecutable crime.
The article don't have a good picture of a small road. Here's an example https://kuruma-news.jp/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/20230214_g... Usually these roads are so small, you can barely fit a car and maybe one pedestrian on one / each side. And these streets are quite common in residential area. As in the picture, usually there are light poles along the pedestrian street. the pictures pole is pretty small but normall…
"The Secret to Japan's Great Cities" (Not Just Bikes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlwQ2Y4By0U (thank you, cassepipe)
— https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/2447794-walkable-cities>
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> Source: I’m working for a rental car company in Japan Then you should know the posted speed limit is low for enforcement reasons. And yes, the Japanese government and society decided to have a fake speed limit and a real speed limit, rather than change the threshold at which speeding is a prosecutable crime.
I’m sorry, but I have no idea what you’re talking about.
The Japanese law doesn't allow criminal enforcement until 30km/h over the posted speed limit, so the posted speed limit is very slow but enforcement for 10km over is non-existent and limited for 20km over (you'll only get a ticket if you are unlucky).
There are many reasons for the gap between the posted limit and enforcement threshold in Japan, but the TL;DR is that the real-world speed that everyone drives at is generally 20km over the posted limit.
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Narrow spaces using concrete and steel poles. Too fast will wipe out your vehicle rather than a person.
Doesn't even have to be anything that harsh. Narrow, twisty tree-lined lanes, speed humps, paved road surfaces that are louder inside the car
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The elegant way to implement such a speed limit is to have the driver do a "slalom" between things like trees or parking spots set alternatively between the two sides of the street, or green islands in the middle of the street. It forces a low driving speed without the discomfort and potential damage caused by speed bumps. Street bumps are a discomfort even for those who respect the speed limit, and sometimes for res…
I pass three speed bumps on my street every day. I'm driving at low speed, and the bumps are designed so to not create discomfort at these speeds. I don't even brake before them. They only create discomfort to people who drive way above the limit, which is the whole purpose, and the bumps are very effective at that.
That's a lot of "I"s for something so many other drivers in the world have to drive across, in many, many different designs. Bumps, "nipples", cushions, tables, bars, made from rubber, asphalt, cobble stone, metal, with different ratios between height and width, different profiles, etc.
But it also depends on the car, doesn't it? Some suspensions are harder, some cars are lower, this creates discomfort or damage. Sometimes they have to rev the engine to cross over at very low speed. Not to mention larger and heavier cars like vans or garbage trucks which also damage the bump on top of everything else. Sometimes even cyclists have to put their butt on the line. The Wikipedia page would have put your personal experience in context [1]. Speed bumps are the cheap for the city but there are compromises.
Many countries with well thought out traffic use bumps where safety is paramount, like raised pedestrian crossings (table). The rest of the speed limiting effect is achieved with smart road design wherever possible.