with prefectural public safety commissions and road management agencies to achieve a number of goals, including limiting the speeds at which automobiles traveled through in these areas, providing drivers with signs that alerted them to road characteristics and intersections, and clearly demarcating sections of roads to be used by traffic and by pedestrians. In this way, the project teams endeavored to create road spaces that would be shared safely and securely by pedestrians and automobiles alike.

(3) Another issue was the need to provide a safe and comfortable transit environment for pedestrians and bicycle riders. In dangerous sections of roads where pedestrians were frequently injured in accidents, the nation continued to make improvements via road reconstruction projects and to focus on sidewalk and bike path construction.

In these projects, wide sidewalks assuring comfortable transit for users continued to be developed. Where space along existing roads did not permit the building of sidewalks, the nation substituted exclusive pedestrian roads or bicycle and pedestrian paths which ran parallel to existing roads.

In order to help seniors and disabled people lead independent, socially active lives, projects were also implemented to develop broad, level sidewalks and to install barrier-free signals in areas around train stations and other public facilities. The nation also endeavored to eliminate utility poles, convert traffic signals to LED lighting, and develop improved road signs and markings to make them more visible to elderly motorists.

## Development of Intelligent Transport Systems

In 1996, the nation formulated a major plan on intelligent transport systems called the Comprehensive ITS Initiative. Its aim was to use advanced information technology to build systems that brought people, roads and vehicles under one integrated system, thereby enhancing road safety and transportation efficiency. Based on this plan, the nation adopted measures to promote research and development, field tests $ ^{6} $ , and infrastructure development.

(1) A key component of ongoing work on ITS has been the Universal Traffic Management Systems (UTMS), whose aim is to ensure traffic safety and comfort through a network of advanced traffic control centers. Using near-infrared beacons, the system envisages the creation of control centers that will be able to establish two-way communications with individual vehicles on the road, thus giving the centers the ability to actively and comprehensively manage traffic flows and volumes. Via this means, the UTMS is aiming to provide advanced traffic information, to manage vehicular operations, and to give priority to public vehicles, as well as to reduce traffic pollution, support safe driving, and ensure pedestrian safety. Based on the UTMS concept, the nation took steps to improve its traffic systems and to install facilities for near-infrared beacons, which are the key infrastructural component of the UTMS system.

(2) Work also continued on cruise-assist systems, which aim to support safe and secure highway cruising and to reduce traffic accidents. These are systems in which information on hazards is communicated to drivers instantaneously using telecommunications.