Vehicles, which was revised in April 2014, a Council for Discussing Measures to Deal with Health-Attributable Accidents Involving Commercial Vehicles was established in September 2015 to promote screenings as a more effective tool for enabling the early detection of sleep-disordered breathing, brain diseases, heart disease, and other key diseases as recommended in the aforementioned manual. Measures to promote the dissemination of such screenings and other matters are being studied by this council.

## (viii) 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.

## (7) Measures in Response to a Ski Bus Accident in Karuizawa

On January 15, 2016, a chartered bus (carrying forty-one passengers) swerved into the oncoming lane and rolled down the right side of the road on the Usui Bypass on National Route 18 in Karuizawa, Nagano near the Iriyama mountain pass. Fifteen individuals (thirteen passengers and two crewmembers) were killed and twenty-six passengers sustained light to heavy injuries in this serious accident. In order to study thorough recurrence-prevention measures designed to prevent such a tragic accident from ever occurring again, meetings of a Committee of Experts to Investigate Measures in Response to the Ski Bus Accident in Karuizawa have been held to discuss, from various perspectives—such as in terms of reinforcing before-and-after safety checks imposed on chartered bus business operators, optimizing the business environment vis-à-vis travel agents, and visualizing elements of safety for users—fundamental safety measures corresponding to structural issues, such as those relating to the significant increase in the number of chartered bus business operators and the audit personnel system that emerged after regulations were eased, a shortage of drivers tied to a shrinking and aging population, and business relations between travel agents and chartered bus business operators.

In accordance with the extent to which a study of an interim summary of recurrence-prevention measures had been conducted, three matters came into focus on March 29, 2016: matters that should be implemented promptly in terms of the imposition of strict punishment, such as in terms of the revocation of business licenses granted to business operators who fail multiple times to correct and ameliorate violations of laws and ordinances; matters for which realization should be pursued in terms of the establishment of a framework for the provision of safety information on chartered bus business operators and the promotion of the dissemination of systems for handling driver abnormalities; and matters that should continue to be studied in terms of conducting reviews of the ways in which operating managers should perform their duties.

For matters that should be implemented promptly, matters that can be implemented shall be promptly implemented. Committee members will continue to discuss matters for which realization should be pursued and matters that should continue to be studied, summarize comprehensive measures for the prevention of recurrence by this summer with respect to these matters, and move to reliably implement these measures going forward.

## (8) Comprehensive Safety Measures for Automobiles

## (i) Considering Vehicle Safety Measures for the Future

The Technical Safety Working Group under the Automobile Subcommittee of Road Transport Session, beneath the Transport Policy Council was held, in response to the formulation of the tenth Fundamental Traffic Safety Program (for FYs 2016 to 2020). The working group discussed about future safety measures, such as the advanced emergency braking system, while considering the current status of traffic accidents and development of automotive technologies.

## (ii) Expanding, enhancing, and strengthening safety standards

In order to improve the safety of automobiles, ten international regulations were adopted in Japan. Due to this adoption, testing conditions based on simulations of lateral collisions with electric utility poles and safety standards for battery-type electric motorcycles were newly developed. Japan is the first country in the world to formulate safety standards applicable to fuel-cell-based motorcycles.