I was riding my mama-chari on a deserted backstreet in Tokyo's small office district. Since it's a weekend, there's no cars nor people around. Then, a police man suddenly appeared from nowhere and told me to stop. I didn't know what was happening but got off my bicycle and stopped.
He told me starting April, the new bicycle law will require bicycles to stop a stop signs and offenders would be required to pay a fine. Fortunately, it's still March so he told me he'll just give me a warning but took my name and my bicycle's registration number and gave me a blue "manner card" with list of rules.
Glad it was still March because I would have been really pissed off if I had to a fine for only slowing down and not stopping at a stop sign on a deserted back street. Seems like police is not only going to look at busier intersections but at deserted streets too. Taught me to be more careful for now on. Just wanted to pass on the info.
EDIT: I've been riding my bicycle on the same street for several decades already and this is the first time I got stopped. I presumed it was OK to just slow down and not completely stop and get my feet on the ground. Glad that he stopped me this month instead of the next.
EDIT: Maybe it actually wasn't my fault. Some one-way street allow bicycles to ride in the opposite direction. I've noticed that there a stop sign and a marker on the street when traveling in the direction of the car but there isn't a stop sign nor a marker on the street to stop when riding in the opposite direction. It was just a warning this time but starting next month, it's going to be a 6,000 yen fine. When the police stops me, I'm going to check if there actually is a stop sign in the direction I'm riding.
by MagazineKey4532