visual inspections in close proximity of bridges and tunnels once every five years.

In addition, on April 14, 2014, the “Recommendations for the Full-Scale Implementation of Road Aging Countermeasures” was published by the Panel on Infrastructure Development Road Subcommittee for the establishment of maintenance cycles (clarifying the obligations of road administrators) and to create a framework to govern maintenance cycles.

The MLIT is working even more actively on support for measures taken against aging roads that are implemented by local governments, such as the steady promotion of routine inspections using the “Road Maintenance Conference”, which was established in all prefectures by July 2014. The support includes Implementation of the bulk order placement of inspection works on a regional basis, enhancement of the training of local government staff, and technical support for direct control diagnoses.

## (5) Steady implementation of the “Expressway and Chartered Bus Safety and Security Recovery Plan”

In response to the Kan-Etsu Expressway tour bus accident that occurred in April 2012, the “Expressway and Chartered Bus Safety and Security Recovery Plan” was formulated in April 2013 to transition and unify expressway tour buses into the new share-ride expressway bus and already established standards for driver replacement shifts and for the remaining measures, these have been definitely implemented in the two years between FY2013 and 2014, and the status of implementation has been followed up and its effects have been reviewed. The MLIT continues to ensure the effectiveness of each measure of this plan such as implementation of street audit and understanding of bus operators that must be continuously monitored, and promotes measures to improve the safety and regain trust of bus operations.

## (6) Accident Prevention Measures Associated with Bus Driver’s Physical Condition Sudden Change

In response to the Hokuriku highway express bus accident occurred on March 3, 2014, conventional measures related to health care of drivers were reviewed, and the “Measures to Prevent Bus Accident Associated with Bus Driver’s Physical Condition Sudden Change” was formulated on April 18, including the revision of “Health Care Manual for the Fleet Vehicle Drivers.” We are working to disseminate these measures across road transport operators and to prevent accidents caused by bus driver’s physical condition sudden change.

## (7) Strengthening Research Function on Accidents Caused by Fleet Vehicles

For serious accidents caused by fleet vehicles that have a great social impact, it is required to obtain the recommendations for objective and high-quality preventive measures along with carrying out research and analysis for causes of advanced and complex accidents while achieving further clarification of structural and organizational problems behind the accident.

For this reason, we are working to strengthen the accident investigation capabilities by establishing the “Fleet Vehicle Accident Investigation Committee” in cooperation with the National Police Agency.

## (8) Safety Measures for the Land Transportation of International Maritime Containers

In order to enhance the safety of the land transportation of international maritime containers, “Guidelines for the Safe Land Transportation of International Maritime Containers” were compiled on June, 2013. We are working to disseminate these guidelines and ensure the effectiveness of them in collaboration with the stakeholders through stakeholders meetings and training sessions by related industries in rural areas.

## (9) Comprehensive Safety Measures for Automobiles

### a. Safety Measures for Commercial Motor Vehicles

An intermediate review was carried out in November 2014 for the “Commercial Motor Vehicles Comprehensive Safety Plan 2009” formulated in March 2009. To achieve the goal of reducing the accident fatalities and personal injury accidents by half in 30 years, the MLIT and stakeholders will work together to steadily implement measures of the plan after the intermediary review, and work towards ensuring safety and security of commercial motor vehicles.

In addition, we are providing support for the deployment of equipment that will contribute to the advancement of operation management such as digital operation recorder and for advanced initiatives such as preventing overwork driving, from the point of view to support the efforts made to prevent the traffic accidents caused by the automotive transportation operators. Moreover, we started a study on the establishment of system modalities that will bear the next