Japan has reduced the speed limit on residential roads without centre lines or maximum speed signs from 60km/h (37mph) to 30km/h, in a bid to lower deaths and injuries among pedestrians on narrow urban streets. The new limit took effect on Tuesday.
Scope of the new measure
The measure applies to roughly 870,000km of roads that are less than 5.5 metres wide and lack centre lines or median strips, according to the Mainichi Shimbun. These roads account for about 70% of the country's general roads, the newspaper reported.
Narrow roads with no pavements are common in crowded Japanese cities, with data indicating that children and older people are at particular risk of being involved in a fatal or serious accident.
Safety concerns and data
Authorities hope the restrictions will address concerns that residential areas are not seeing the same safety improvements as larger roads. While overall traffic deaths fell to a record low of 2,457 last year, fatalities and serious injuries involving children and older people on residential roads have remained steady at about 300 a year since 2021, and rose for the first time in three years in 2025, according to the national police agency.
The introduction of "zone 30" areas on a limited number of residential streets and school routes in 2011 led to a 30% reduction in fatalities and serious injuries, the Mainichi said.
Police appeal to drivers
Police agency data show that the mortality rate among pedestrians is less than 1% in accidents involving vehicles travelling at or below 30km/h, rising to 2.7% at speeds of 30-40km/h and 17.4% at 50-60km/h.
"We ask drivers to recognise that they need to take particular care on roads shared by vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists," the police agency's commissioner general, Yoshinobu Kusunoki, told reporters this week.
