Speed limits in Japan

Statutory speed limit in Japan defaults to for divided national expressways and for any other roads, unless otherwise posted. The highest speed limit in Japan is on some sections of Shin-Tōmei Expressway (E1A) and Tōhoku Expressway (E4). Urban two-way streets are usually zoned at or less.

Summary

Statutory maximum speed limits of applies on divided national expressways and on other roads. There are no separate urban or rural statutory limits. Urban and rural limits are set by zoning rather than statute. Statutory speed limits for heavy trucks with GVWR over , trailers and three-wheelers are restricted to on divided national expressways.

Implementation of speed limits in Japan can be summarized as:
* regulatory speed limits of on residential streets and are common for urban two-lane roads.
* regulatory speed limit of or is common in rural areas due to rugged mountainous terrain.
* regulatory speed limit cannot be set higher than for any streets with an at-grade intersection, or where pedestrians or cyclists are permitted.
* undivided expressways have a limit of .
* variable speed limits are in effect on most national expressways.
* emergency vehicles are not exempt but have speed limit of on most roads and on divided national expressways, unless higher speed limit is posted. Police vehicles are exempt during speeding enforcement.

Enforcement

Speed camera

A threshold for speed cameras in Japan is set at a minimum of above the limit on an expressway and a minimum of above the limit on other streets, where drivers will face criminal charges instead of traffic infractions. This is due to legal precedents dating back to 1969 restricting police from filming an individual unless a criminal offence is immediately being committed.

Police enforcement

Although there is no official tolerance for exceeding the speed limit, most drivers in Japan tend to drive over the speed limit on major roads. Police enforcement varies depending on the jurisdiction, officers, traffic flow and street types, but 20 km/h (12 MPH) above the speed limit on an expressway and 15 km/h (9 MPH) above the limit are generally tolerated on other streets.

In 2020, a total of 1,162,420 speeding tickets were issued across Japan, and only 199 tickets were issued for speeding between 0–15 km/h (0-9 MPH) over the limit. Of the 199 tickets for speeding 0–15 km/h (0-9 MPH) over the limit, Iwate Prefectural Police alone issued 166 tickets. For speeding between 15 and 20 km/h over the limit, Hokkaido, Aichi, Kyoto, Osaka and Fukuoka had the largest shares of tickets issued.

In contrast, Okinawa did not issue any tickets for speeding between 0–20 km/h (0-12 MPH) over the limit. Tokyo Metropolitan Police issued a total of 68,693 speeding tickets, but gave out only seven tickets for speeding between 0–20 km/h (0-12 MPH) over the limit. Some jurisdictions, such as Tokyo Metropolitan Police, release traffic enforcement locations on their websites.警視庁 公開交通取締り
- Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department

Speed limit guidelines

In Japan, speed limit cannot be set higher than for any streets with at-grade intersection or where pedestrians or cyclists are permitted. In other words, the street must be converted to controlled-access highway with costly grade separation to achieve speed limits higher than . There is also major distinguishment between and when setting speed limits and different criteria are used.

Although some surface streets such as viaducts, trunk and bypass roads are built to expressway standards, many are not legally classified as expressways and are typically distinguishable by the colour of direction signs: surface streets use blue direction signs while expressways use green signs.

Surface streets

Speed limits for surface streets are set within ± of the reference speed limit below. Reference speed limits do not apply to expressways.

Expressways

Speed limits for expressways are set at or the lowest adaptation speed derived from each expressway design speed criteria below. Intercity expressways typically have higher speed limits, while urban expressways within major cities often have limits and two-lane expressways, typically in rural and remote areas, have limits for undivided and limits with physical separation.

Most expressways outside of cities have active variable speed limit signs and maximum speeds are lowered according to road conditions such as congestions, accidents, constructions and severe weather. When the statutory speed limits are in effect on national expressways, variable speed limit signs are left blank to indicate the statutory speed of for heavy trucks and for other vehicles. Two sets of variable speed limit signs are installed when the regulatory speed exceeds statutory speed of on national expressways or on other roads to regulate the maximum speed of trucks, trailers and three-wheelers to .

References

{{Asia topic, Speed limits in

Japan
Road transport in Japan

ja:最高速度#日本の最高速度