🌆 Autumn Dusk: Japan Road Safety Drive

❓ What is happening?

Japan's National Police Agency will hold the autumn nationwide traffic safety campaign for ten days, from Monday, September 21 to Wednesday, September 30, 2026. It is organized by ten ministries and agencies including the Cabinet Office and the NPA, together with prefectures, municipalities and 13 related organizations. The final day, September 30, is designated as the "Day Aiming for Zero Traffic Deaths." Three priorities are set: (1) protecting pedestrians and promoting the use of reflective items; (2) switching headlights on early at dusk and eliminating drink-driving and phone use while driving; and (3) making cyclists and riders of "tokutei kogata gensuki jitensha" (e-scooters and similar small electric vehicles) understand and follow the rules. The accident analysis released alongside explains why. Based on 2021–2025 data, traffic deaths tend to rise from autumn through year-end. From March to September the largest group of fatalities is people inside cars, but from October onward pedestrians become the largest group. Pedestrian deaths and serious injuries at night rise sharply from October, and the night-time share reaches 58.9% in December. Fatal crashes at "dusk" (defined as the hour before and after sunset) totalled 589 in October–December versus 348 in July–September, about 1.7 times as many; car-versus-pedestrian fatal crashes at dusk rose from 157 to 316, about 2.0 times. Unlike the spring campaign, the autumn edition is built around one seasonal fact: as daylight shortens, the risk of simply walking outside jumps.

👥 Who is affected?

• ●People who walk to work or school, or walk home after dark
• ●Users of bicycles and small electric vehicles such as e-scooters
• ●Drivers of cars and motorcycles, especially around sunset
• ●Households with primary-school children or elderly family members
• ●Travellers who explore towns on foot after dark

🌏 Impact on foreign residents and visitors

Life in Japan often means walking and cycling every day, so this seasonal shift translates directly into daily risk. According to the analysis, 87.0% of dusk-time fatal car-versus-pedestrian crashes happened while the person was crossing the road: 25.0% on a crosswalk and 62.0% away from one. On the pedestrian side, the most common legal violations were crossing right in front of or behind a moving vehicle (32.7%) and crossing away from a crosswalk (22.4%). Crossing habits that feel normal at home can become both a violation and a crash in Japan. The same applies to bicycles. Deaths among cyclists fell from 504 in 2016 to 301 in 2025, yet the share of cases involving a legal violation stays high at around 80%. Helmet use was only 24.4% in the June 2026 street survey. For crashes involving e-scooters (tokutei kogata gensuki jitensha), the share involving alcohol was 11.1% in 2025, far above the 0.7% for bicycles. Guidance, enforcement and awareness activities are stepped up nationwide during the campaign, so riding without knowing the rules is a poor bet.