News Sharp increase in drink-driving cases linked to e-scooters

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.

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