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The story
A scene of cyclists repeatedly ringing their bells to intimidate pedestrians on the sidewalk — described as “an unbelievable everyday occurrence” — sparked a wave of reactions on 5ch’s News Express+ board. The thread kicked off from the observation that even as a legal reform introducing “blue tickets” (official traffic citations) for cyclists made headlines, sidewalk conflicts between bikes and pedestrians haven’t changed, with pedestrians still the ones forced to step aside. Commenters split between those citing the legal principle that “pedestrians have top priority on sidewalks” and those making a more practical etiquette argument — that “pedestrians should walk along the edge too” — disagreeing over who bears the greater responsibility. Many also pointed to the lack of dedicated bike lanes as the root cause.
FORZA STYLE
“A sense of humor is a gentleman’s virtue”
“The one actually breaking the law here is the bike!” Sick and tired of mamachari (Japan’s ubiquitous city bikes) blasting their bells to intimidate pedestrians on the sidewalk. Law change? Doesn’t matter! Pedestrians left stepping aside in “an unbelievable everyday occurrence”
Source: forzastyle.com / Original article here
What people said
I'm a Tokyoite, and barely any bikes ring their bell around here. Only the occasional old man does it.
Crack down on them hard.
Fine, ban sidewalk riding outright and make helmets mandatory —
but in return, scrap the 24km/h speed limiter and the power taper that kicks in from 10km/h.
Capping assist power at 3x human effort is fine though.
No — pedestrians have absolute priority on the sidewalk, so if a pedestrian is blocking the way, it's the cyclist's duty to slow down or steer around them.
Under the Road Traffic Act, nothing outranks a pedestrian on a sidewalk.
Stick to the side so you're ready whenever a bike comes up behind you.
That's just common sense.
Why can't people plan for something that obvious?
Walking at the edge of the sidewalk costs you absolutely nothing.
Re: #1
>Sidewalk riding is only permitted in unavoidable cases, such as avoiding danger
But sidewalks exist precisely in places dangerous enough to need separating pedestrians from vehicles — and in those same spots, cyclists face danger from cars too. So cyclists can always use the sidewalk there, the police can't enforce otherwise and openly admit they won't, meaning this 'blue ticket' law change is irrelevant to any of this.
It's an embarrassment to Japan.
Adults and old folks ride bikes all the time, that's totally normal, no?
The blue ticket thing is really just a tax hike in disguise.
But people are people — they'll get worked up over the smallest stuff lol
When I'm out walking, Vietnamese cyclists coming toward me ring their bell even though I'm not in their way at all.
Then they say hello right after ringing it.
And it's not just one of them — it's a bunch.
In Vietnam, ringing the bell IS the greeting.
Such a waste, being born in a car superpower like Japan.
My own driving would probably cause an accident, so I won't buy a car.
I'll buy one once fully self-driving cars exist.
Also, pedestrians shouldn't walk down the middle of the sidewalk — keep to the side, like you would on an escalator.
Even on sidewalks that specifically have a marked bike lane,
people walk straight through the blue-painted lane without a second thought.
If pedestrians get to have a side of the argument,
cyclists get one too.
If someone calls out 'excuse me,' then I'll step aside.
That says something about your character, honestly.
Same thing either way — it's all the same.
So really, they should be wobbling along like they're taking the motorcycle license's 'balance beam test' — making tiny steering corrections and swaying side to side just to keep from tipping over…
Up to jogging speed is fine. Going faster than that is just not right.
Well, at least it tells you they're coming — that alone is a plus.
Some pedestrians suddenly change direction without checking behind them, so ringing the bell is essential.
That said, calling out verbally is basically pointless since nobody ever hears it.
If there's a pedestrian up ahead,
the cyclist should get off and push the bike on foot.
That's the only option.
In that case the bike has to stop, period.
That's what I do, and that's what the cyclists I see do too.
"Move it, move it! Outta my way, outta my way!!"
But in central Tokyo, people won't budge even for a car.
Well, outside Tokyo, if you get hit by a car, nobody's around to even notice.
For some reason that made me think of pigeons in a park.
Background and Key Points of the Debate
The introduction of “blue tickets” (traffic citations) for cyclists is a legal reform aimed at cracking down on dangerous violations like running red lights and riding against traffic — it does not ban sidewalk riding itself. Under the Road Traffic Act, sidewalk riding is prohibited in principle, but exceptions apply when “safe road conditions can’t be ensured” or other unavoidable circumstances exist. As comment #56 in the thread points out, this latest law change has nothing to do with whether sidewalk riding is allowed. The principle that pedestrians have top priority on sidewalks also hasn’t changed, and it’s legally clear that cyclists bear the duty to slow down or steer around pedestrians. Where opinions diverged was on the practical etiquette question of whether pedestrians should also keep to the edge of the sidewalk — with legal arguments and etiquette arguments getting tangled together, the thread never reached a consensus on who’s really to blame. The slow pace of dedicated bike-lane construction, repeatedly cited as the underlying cause of sidewalk conflicts, was a recurring theme throughout.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Express+) thread “[FORZA] …Sick and tired of granny bikes blasting their bells to intimidate pedestrians on the sidewalk. Law change be damned — pedestrians left stepping aside in “an unbelievable everyday occurrence”.”
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