Basics for everyone on the road

50 questions

• When a police officer or traffic patrol officer is directing traffic with hand signals, their signal takes priority over the traffic light, even if the two conflict.
• If a police officer's instruction about how to proceed conflicts with a road sign or road marking, you must follow the sign or marking rather than the officer.
• You must not obstruct traffic on the road by staggering around drunk, standing about chatting, or sitting down in the roadway.
• It is acceptable to throw small items such as cigarette butts or scraps of paper out of the window of a moving vehicle.
• Even when the road surface is likely to freeze, sprinkling water on the road is not prohibited.
• You must not display goods on the road or leave things such as earth, sand, or timber that obstruct traffic.
• Offering or serving alcohol to someone who is about to drive is fine as long as you yourself are not the driver.
• It is prohibited not only to ask a driver to drive with an overloaded vehicle, but also to sell or hand over goods that would cause an overload.
• Traffic rules exist as shared promises everyone must keep so that people can use the road safely and smoothly.
• The specific content of traffic rules is shown individually by things such as traffic lights and road signs.
• When using the road, it is enough just to obey the written traffic rules; you do not also need to make careful judgments about the road and traffic situation.
• You may put your own convenience first, so there is no need to worry about noise that bothers people living along the road.
• You are expected to prepare in advance by taking out car insurance, learning first-aid procedures, and keeping first-aid equipment in your vehicle.
• If you see someone in trouble from a crash or a breakdown, you are expected to help—for example by calling for help or giving aid.
• Only car drivers need to understand vehicle characteristics such as blind spots and the inner-wheel difference (the way a turning vehicle's rear wheels cut inside the path of its front wheels); pedestrians and cyclists do not.
• You should be aware that a self-driving car may be used without the driver watching the road ahead.
• A vehicle operating under "specified automated operation" always has a driver on board and never stops suddenly on the road.
• For remote-controlled small vehicles (delivery robots), you should know that the operator may not be nearby and that the vehicle may stop suddenly on the road.
• You must not throw things onto the road or leave objects there in ways that obstruct or inconvenience other road users.
• Where a white board with a blue left-pointing arrow is posted at the left edge of the road or on the signal, you may not turn left while the light facing you is red.
• Even when turning left under the blue left-arrow board, you must not obstruct pedestrians or cyclists who are crossing in accordance with the signal.
• There are three kinds of main road signs: regulatory signs, instruction signs, and warning signs.
• Regulatory signs prohibit a particular way of using the road, or require you to travel in a particular way.
• The sign showing that there is a railroad crossing ahead is a guide sign.
• Guide signs show place names, directions, and distances to make travel easier.
• Supplementary signs are normally mounted below a main sign and show the reason for the restriction, or the times, days of the week, or vehicle types to which it applies.
• Instruction signs exist to warn road users in advance about hazards or situations requiring caution.
• Road markings painted on the road surface come in three kinds: regulatory markings, instruction markings, and warning markings.
• Markings that prohibit parking, or that designate a bus-only lane, are regulatory markings.
• The marking showing that diagonal crossing is allowed is a regulatory marking.
• When a signal displays the plate "for pedestrians and bicycles only", bicycles must also obey that signal.
• A signal with a human-figure symbol applies only to pedestrians and does not apply to remote-controlled small vehicles (delivery robots).
• When the signal for cross traffic turns red, the signal ahead of you is always green.
• Some signals briefly show red in all directions, and staggered (jisa-shiki) signals delay the change to red for a particular direction.
• A signal fitted with a "Bus Only" board applies to the vehicles shown on the board.
• When a signal is designated for particular vehicles or pedestrians, those road users must obey that designated signal.
• Signs showing that parking is permitted, or marking the location of a pedestrian crossing, are instruction signs.
• The sign showing road works ahead is a warning sign.
• Road markings are the lines, symbols, and characters shown on the road surface by paint, road studs, and the like.
• Road signs consist of main signs and supplementary signs.
• The road was busy, but my child begged me, so we played catch on it.
• Throwing things toward the road is not banned as long as nothing hits a person or a vehicle.
• You must not scatter or dump waste water, rubbish, nails, broken glass, or the like on the road.
• I was in a hurry on my bicycle, so I held on to the outside of a slow-moving truck to get along.
• You must not aim a light at the road that could dazzle drivers.
• You must not put up a neon sign in colours resembling a traffic signal near a signal.
• A road sign was in the way of my work, so I moved it a little myself.
• I had been drinking, so I asked a friend who has no licence to drive instead.
• A passenger urging the driver to hurry is fine, since the passenger is not the one driving.
• First-aid response (okyu-kyugo-shochi) means the emergency measures needed to help injured people at the scene of a traffic accident.