many of the bridges and other structures built in a short period of time during rapid economic growth. Due to these circumstances, to enable the sustainable and strategic maintenance, management, and renewal of road stock, for road bridges, etc. from expressways to municipal roads, the inspection, diagnosis, and maintenance repair of road stock in accordance with lifecycle extending repair plans is being implemented and preventative maintenance is being furthered in a planned manner. Also, regarding the bridges of local governments, roughly 10% of municipalities are unable to conduct regular inspections due to lacking personnel, technology, or funding, therefore, clarification of inspection responsibilities and technical standards in addition to technical and financial support measures are being implemented.

## (4) Strengthening Safety Measures in Response to the Expressway Tour Bus Accident

In response to the Kan-Etsu Expressway tour bus accident which occurred in April 2012, an emergency measures such as an emergency priority audit and prevention of fatigued driving were implemented and tour companies providing expressway tour bus services were required to obtain permission for operating share-ride busses and forced to transition to a new expressway share-ride bus format with responsibility for ensuring safety under the Road Transportation Act.

## (5) Comprehensive Safety Measures for Automobiles

## ① Safety Measures for Commercial Motor Vehicles

Under the “Commercial Motor Vehicles Comprehensive Safety Plan 2009” which aims to reduce accident fatalities and personal injury accidents by half and completely eliminate driving under the influence in the ten years from 2008 to 2018, more safety measures are being implemented such as expanding the scope of mandatory installment of tachographs in trucks.

## ② Considering Vehicle Safety Measures for the Future

The Ninth Fundamental Traffic Safety Program (created March, 2011) established a goal of reducing traffic accident fatalities to fewer than 3,000 by 2015. In order to attain this goal of reducing traffic accidents, the three measures of “expanding and strengthening safety standards,” “Advanced Safety Vehicle (ASV) promotion plan,” and “automobile assessment” will be linked synergistically for initiatives to promote vehicular safety measures.

## ③ Expanding and Strengthening Safety Standards

For large freight vehicles and busses, any accident tends to cause great damages so the standardization and mandatory equipment of collision damage reduction brakes and standards for large freight vehicles was established in March 2012 and for busses in January 2013. Also, a certification system was created in January 2013 for a “new category” of vehicle, the ultra compact mobility for around two passengers and smaller than light motor vehicles so that they can run on public roads.

## ④ Development, Commercialization, and Promotion of Advanced Safety Vehicle (ASV)

The development, commercialization, and promotion of Advanced Safety Vehicle (ASV) is being promoted under the cooperation of industry, academia and government and ASV technology that is already commercialized such as collision damage reduction brakes are being widely promoted and efforts are under way for the commercialization of safe driving support systems that use communication such as vehicle-to-vehicle communication systems and pedestrian-to-vehicle communication systems.