2 injured in wrong-way crash; latest in recent spate of incidents

Roads in Japan are not sufficiently marked to allow drivers enough time to react - I see drivers serving all the time due to lack of signage.

Instead of placing signs high up above PLACE more road directions on the road where drivers actually need to look.

Too many oldies.

A man in his 90s, the one who was driving in the wrong direction, and the other driver, a man in his 40s,

Just another Japan's elder driver that took wrong lane.

The gov't traffic "experts" will probably address this issue by installing more traffic lights.

A man in his nineties on the expressway. Make it make sense.

A tragedy. And, of course, the government and LDP plan to solve this by cracking down on foreign drivers (that's sarcasm).

Too many oldies.

Too many 12 year olds who think their youth is permanent and makes them superior.

Agree about lack of meaningful markings on the roads. I'd add terrible road design, especially of major intersections. One particular massive intersection in Gunma is atrocious. A jumbled mess which makes navigation nearly impossible. Used several of my nine lives at that intersection alone, I swear.

Japanese roads suffer badly from a lack of standardized highway entry methods and infrastructure (Anyone driving on a German Autobahn will know what I mean). That leads directly to increased risks of confusion for the drivers (who ALWAYS get the blame).

It's the polices fault for still letting the 90 year old have a drivers license

Maybe another ten years and people over a certain age will only be allowed in self-driving cars. That should sort it.

Why do Japan have such low speed limits ? it due to age driver and it accommodate old age hesitancy. Not because all Japanese are super slow drivers. This is a not problem its peoples bias against aged drivers.

There has been elderly drivers and foreigners both driving on the wrong side. Probably age has something to do with it or being a foreigner. But more than that, in many places roads are quite confusing. People exit the highway and have to immediately cross two lanes if they want to turn right for example. It seems when they designed the roads they never envisioned people actually driving them.

Enasan Tunnel on the Chuo Expressway

It's 8km long and crosses the Gifu/Nagano border. It is fortunate that this did not cause a major pileup with multiple deaths. As regular users will know, there are traffic lights (yes, on the expressway) at the entrance to the tunnel, so maybe the car was detected and they were triggered. They are normally just stuck on green.

This is either a U turn somewhere or, as someone mentioned this on another thread, someone exiting a rest area the way they entered it. At rest areas, the exit is marked "本線" which may not be the best wordage or may not be indicated as clear as it needs to be. Perhaps more clear warnings, and automated tyre spikes if you like, are needed at rest area entrances to stop folk driving back up them. It is noticeable that tsunami warnings on tv now say "nigero!" in huge letters, which is shouting in Japanese. They do not bother pussyfooting around with politeness.

Japan's still quite safe in terms accidents and #deaths per mile/km driven, but such 'horror' stories as elderly wrong drivers does not exactly inspire confidence!

Japan's still quite safe in terms accidents and #deaths per mile/km driven, but such 'horror' stories as elderly wrong WAY drivers does not exactly inspire confidence!

If you are going to go the wrong way, chose something better than the Kei car illustrated! Very little crumple zone...

Seems to be happening pretty often lately.

Japanese roads suffer badly from a lack of standardized highway entry methods and infrastructure (Anyone driving on a German Autobahn will know what I mean). That leads directly to increased risks of confusion for the drivers (who ALWAYS get the blame).

Yep, good point.

One way spikes at exits will stop drivers and prevent them from entering the expressways from exits.

Entry and exit signs are very confusing. Some signs do not even face the correct traffic pathway, are barely visible to drivers, or are too close to the place where a decision to make a change of direction is required, even the no-entry signs are aimed the wrong way.

Long tight loops in small areas also confuse drivers, it is not uncommon to travel 360 or even 540 degrees on to a lane split, a prime example is the Takao intersection which is often feature on examples of Japan's highway systems.

Then there is the pressure from behind of tailgating trucks and local business vans, eager to get on their way.

Finally add on to these factors the dependence on car navigation systems, voicing directions that add to the confusion.

I use expressways 2, 3x times a week and I'm still totally clueless how can someone manage to even drive in the wrong direction.

Weirdly positioned entrances that make you go into the expressway all of the sudden? Yes.

Exits/junctions marked at last minute that almost makes you miss your exit? Yes.

Super random Parking areas that don't allow you to exit the expressway? Yes.

But how on earth you manage to get into the wrong side of expressway?

You'd have to be driving in the wrong direction before even getting into the expressway to be able to pull that off (driving into an exp. way exit).

Besides, all these incidents seem to happen mostly in inaka areas with very well marked highways, not comparison with Tokyo, Osaka or Nagoya. Mind-boggling.

Because of these people, I feel much safer driving a SUV now. Wished I'd drive something even taller if there weren't so many height restrictions here in Tokyo.

Bring on autonomous vehicles and self-driving cars, which thankfully by all accounts are coming soon, especially with this rapidly aging society!

It seems the lane-dividing line in the tunnel is yellow-orange rather than white. This may have confused the driver, as I know this kind of thing confuses me, since yellow lines mostly indicate center lines, and white indicate lanes.

On Kananan Dori, I need to confirm the traffic direction to ensure I'm not going the wrong direction! I've never seen this in other countries.

It sure looks like road with two way traffic. Yellow center line, white fog line on the outside of the lane. Driver was on the proper side of the road for two way traffic.

On many US highways the reflective Botts Dots are two color. The color facing traffic traveling in the proper direction are white and the other side is red. A wrong way driver should see all red Botts Dots and figure out they are going the wrong way.

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/transportation/lohx9x/picture127855829/alternates/LANDSCAPE_1140/BottsDotsVideoKey

I was almost involved in an accident like this.

Sometimes the entrances to 4 lane highways give the appearance of a 2 lane road to elderly drivers who aren't familiar with what to look for and who may easily miss cues (such as when there is a dividing barrier that only allows them to see two lanes directly in front of them) .

My wife's grandfather (in his 80s at the time) did this with me in the passenger seat - turned onto a 4 lane highway thinking it was a 2 lane road because there was a concrete barrier in the middle that obscured the other two lanes of view. Ended up going the wrong way down the highway for about.....10 metres before the oncoming traffic and everyone in the car screaming caused him to slam on the brakes. Nobody hurt that time but very well could have been.

Autonomy can't get here soon enough, as soon we can all just safely relax and type JT posts while the car drives us from point A to point B, far more safely to boot!

It would also be helpful to place the direction of the road beside the entrance ramp or several city names instead of just one.

I bet people defending the driver in this one have not seen the video.

The diver continued driving, when it was obvious he was driving in the wrong lase, by all the cars around him driving in the different direction, and trying to avoid him.

One thing is getting in the wrong entrance, another is continuing to drive with traffic around you.

A man in his 90s

I didn't realize you can still drive in Japan at such a late age. The driver must have passed all the requirements in order to renew his license.

I bet people defending the driver in this one have not seen the video.

The diver continued driving, when it was obvious he was driving in the wrong lase, by all the cars around him driving in the different direction, and trying to avoid him.

One thing is getting in the wrong entrance, another is continuing to drive with traffic around you.

Not going to defend him but in fairness the video also shows he was driving extremely slowly, and other drivers describe him as having a look of shock and confusion on his face as he went along, seemingly not sure of what was going on.

This seems consistent with a 90-something with limited physical and mental capacity who absolutely should not ever be allowed behind the wheel of a car, but at the same time there clearly wasn't any malice involved. Possible negligence in letting him have a license in the first place though.....

Video of the incident is here for anyone interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkugRW6I0DM

Roads should be so clearly marked that there shouldn't be any question about which way to go. There isn't time when you are driving to puzzle out anything that isn't completely obvious. It's got to be so clear that even if the driver's mind is only half way on the job, he or she gets it immediately.

And while they are about it, they need to do something about the dreadful chome/banchi system. Nobody understands it and even if it is on an electric pole and not obscured by an ad or a photo of a lost pet, it's so small as to be invisible to a driver.

I have driven many times in Japan; the roads (both in the cities and rural areas) are excellent, well-built and maintained, with clear directional signs. Drivers in Japan who cause head-on collisions are mostly tourists from countries where they drive 'LEFT-HAND', keeping on the RIGHT side of the road—exactly opposite of Japan.

The elderly driver is 99 years old!!

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20250612/k10014833341000.html

Apparently the guy pulled into one of those areas for putting chains on winter and exited in the wrong direction whilst driving at less than 10k/m p.h

Also his family repeatedly asked him to give up his license but he ignored them

It would also be helpful to place the direction of the road beside the entrance ramp or several city names instead of just one.

I have had supposedly reliable auto-pilots in the helicopters I was flying try to kill me more than once so excuse me if I distrust AI and automated driving, preferring to shift my own gears and steer the car my self thank you. I don't trust automatic braking systems either and my most recent purchase was a low mile used example of the minivan I wanted specifically to avoid it being equipped with automatic braking and telematics. I am happy with my purchase.

Anyway thinking that roads in Japan are perfect has never driven in the first world..,