TOKYO >> Across Japan, 896 people had their driver\u2019s licenses suspended for riding a bicycle while under the influence of alcohol from January to September 2025, up from just two people during the same period last year, according to the National Police Agency.<\/p>\n
Since the revised Road Traffic Law took effect in November 2024, making cycling at or above a certain blood alcohol level a punishable offense, there has been an increase in the number of cases in which police have determined that drunk cyclists were \u201calso likely to pose a significant danger when driving a car.\u201d Those who make the decision to ride a bicycle while drunk may now pay a high price.<\/p>\n
Typically, the suspension of a person\u2019s driver\u2019s license is imposed by their local safety commission based on the number of penalty points they have accrued for traffic violations while driving a car.<\/p>\n
Even prior to last year\u2019s revision, authorities had the power to suspend for up to six months the driver\u2019s license of any individual seen as likely to pose a significant risk of causing traffic hazards while driving. This rule was most commonly invoked against drug users.<\/p>\n
During the 2024 January-September period, two people had their driver\u2019s license suspended for particularly egregious cases of riding bicycles while drunk.<\/p>\n
According to a senior NPA official, local public safety commissions began suspending the driver\u2019s licenses of drunken cyclists nationwide after the revised law took effect, establishing penalties for bicycling while intoxicated at or above a threshold of 0.15 milligrams of alcohol per liter of breath.<\/p>\n
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At a meeting of regional senior police officials, attendees were asked to consider applying this rule to intoxicated cyclists.<\/p>\n
Breaking down the data by home prefecture of those penalized, Osaka prefecture tops the list with 340 suspensions, followed by Tokyo with 124; Wakayama, 73; Nara, 66; Fukuoka, 17; and Aichi, four. Twenty-two prefectures did not record a single driver\u2019s license suspension.<\/p>\n
Some local governments are toughening up penalties. Chiba prefecture dismisses employees who have been caught driving a car or riding a bicycle while under the influence of alcohol.<\/p>\n
Penalties for cycling while intoxicated at or above a threshold of 0.15 mg\/l include imprisonment for up to three years or a fine up to 500,000 yen (about $3,200). A person who rides on the back of a bicycle operated by someone under the influence or serves alcohol to such a bicyclist is also subject to penalties. And because December is filled with year-end parties that offer people plenty of opportunities for drinking, police beefed up enforcement on the street.<\/p>\n
\u201cDrunk cycling can lead to serious accidents,\u201d said an NPA official. \u201cHaving your driver\u2019s license suspended can majorly affect your life and career. I hope everyone will abide by the rule, \u2018Don\u2019t drink and ride.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TOKYO >> Across Japan, 896 people had their driver\u2019s licenses suspended for riding a bicycle while under the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,162430,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-381399","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-focus-on-japan","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}