Japan transport ministry to strengthen wrong-way driving countermeasures
The ministry says there were 220 cases of drivers going in the opposite direction on expressways in 2024. In one instance in April of this year, there was a multi-vehicle accident caused by a wrong-way driver on the Tohoku Expressway in Tochigi Prefecture, north of Tokyo.
The ministry and an expressway operator have designated 189 interchanges and expressway rest stops nationwide as places where preventive measures will be implemented against wrong-way driving.
The designated areas include interchanges that are similar to the one where the driver who caused the multi-vehicle accident in April is believed to have entered.
Other designated areas are places where accidents caused by wrong-way drivers have resulted in deaths or injuries, as well as multiple cases of reverse running took place.
The ministry and the expressway operator plan to install speed bumps in the designated areas to alert drivers that they are going in the opposite direction.
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