Japan has recently seen a sharp increase in the number of people being caught riding electric scooters under the influence of alcohol, amid the growing popularity of the vehicles.
Electric scooters, resembling skateboards equipped with handles, have become widespread in metropolitan areas through rental and sharing services as a cheap and easy mode of transportation, including for people who have missed their last trains but do not want to pay for taxis to get home.
In Tokyo, police investigated 39 drunken-driving cases linked to e-scooters in the nine months through September, up from just one case in the whole of last year.
"Why are you just stopping me? Everyone rides them after drinking," exclaimed a man in his 40s when he was stopped by a police officer near Tokyo's Shibuya Station on Oct. 15 while riding an e-scooter home after drinking. He failed to pass an alcohol breath test.
"When we see e-scooter users at nighttime in downtown areas, the first thing we suspect is drunken driving," said a senior officer of the Metropolitan Police Department, adding the investigated cases this year were "only the tip of the iceberg."
Japan revised its traffic law in April, scrapping the need for a license to ride e-scooters with a maximum speed of 20 kilometers per hour as well as the requirement for users to wear helmets.
The relaxed regulations, currently in place on a trial basis, will formally take effect within two years.
The central government has been conducting trials to determine the safety of riding electric scooters without helmets.
Last month, a 52-year-old man died in Tokyo after sustaining a head injury when his rental e-scooter hit a parking block. He was not wearing a helmet and is believed to have been riding under the influence of alcohol.
Following the accident, the operator of the rental scooter service announced it would place security guards at some of its docking stations located in entertainment districts to stop drunk people from using its vehicles.
"I don't think the operators expected this many cases of drunken driving. We can only spread awareness and strengthen efforts to clamp down on it," said the senior police officer.
