Osaka Prefecture, which had the highest number of traffic fatalities in the country for the second consecutive year, with 148 fatalities last year, also had the worst number of bicycle-related fatalities in the country, with 37 fatalities. In April last year, wearing bicycle helmets was made mandatory, but in a survey conducted in July this year, the wearing rate was the worst in the country, at 5.5%, significantly lower than the national average (17.0%). Feeling a growing sense of crisis, the Osaka Prefectural Police created a video in which bereaved families of bicycle accident victims talk about the importance of helmets. They aim to improve bicycle manners in Osaka, which have long been pointed out as the “worst”.

“Show me the right way to do it, adults.”

“My wife was panicking from the start, so I immediately knew it was an accident.”

Akihiro Watanabe (55) of Ehime Prefecture, whose eldest son, Daichi (then 15), a first-year high school student, died in a truck accident in December 2014, looks back on the incident in a video. He was informed of his son’s accident by a phone call from his wife while he was at work. Daichi, who was on his way home from school by bicycle, was not wearing a helmet.

When Daichi bought a bicycle to commute to school before entering high school, he tried on a helmet at the store and said, “This is cool,” while looking in the mirror. However, at the time, wearing a helmet was not widespread, and Akihiro felt that it was expensive when he saw a helmet that cost more than 10,000 yen. “If I had said, ‘If you want a helmet, I’ll buy one,’ I wonder what would have happened now,” Akihiro said, savoring the thought.

Daichi’s accident was one of the reasons that Ehime Prefecture made it mandatory for high school students to wear helmets when cycling to school in 2015. Cars driven by adults are dangerous, so it’s wrong to force children to do so. Akihiro was initially opposed to making it mandatory, but after hearing about actual cases where helmets had saved lives, his opinion changed drastically.

Some people may think that helmets are expensive, but Akihiro emphasizes that they are cheap compared to a child’s life. “Ask yourself which is more important, the value of a child or the value of a helmet.” He also appealed that adults can “show children the right way to ride” by wearing helmets when riding bicycles.

“To save lives that can be saved”

The poor bicycle etiquette of Osakans is known nationwide, and has long been linked to the high incidence of accidents. According to the prefectural police, of the 68 people who died in traffic accidents in the prefecture between January and July this year, 17 were cyclists. This accounts for 25%, and Osaka’s high rate stands out compared to the national average of about 12%.

According to the prefectural police, some people who died in bicycle accidents would not have lost their lives if they had been wearing helmets. Hideyuki Hata, head of the bicycle countermeasures office of the prefectural police traffic general affairs department, said, “We thought about how we could appeal to save lives that can be saved.” That serious thought led to the creation of the awareness video.

The project began in May, and involved interviews with three families: two who lost their children in a bicycle accident, including Watanabe, and a family in Kochi Prefecture whose child was temporarily injured. After about four months, the team completed a roughly hour-long video that earnestly appeals for the importance of helmets.

The video was released on the official YouTube channel of the Prefectural Police Traffic Department on September 3rd. In conjunction with the release, a screening was held at the Prefectural Police Headquarters, where about 200 police officers and others watched the completed video. Chief Tsuyoshi Iwashita gave a speech saying, “Please watch the video carefully to learn the importance of life and to reaffirm how important helmets are.”

Approximately 1,200 DVDs of the educational video will also be produced and distributed to all police stations, government agencies, and educational institutions in the prefecture, with plans to have them used in training and safety classes. In addition, they are also planning to distribute them to all high schools in the prefecture. Director Hata said, “We hope that by learning about the earnest wishes and cries of the bereaved families through the video, this will lead to behavioral changes such as ‘obeying traffic rules’ and ‘wearing helmets.'” (Maehara Ayaki)