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The Ministry of Transport, in a bid to secure traffic safety, which is the
fundamental of transport administration, lays down traffic safety plans every
year and vigorously pushes forward with them in land, sea and air transport
services.
In 1988, however, road traffic accidents claimed the lives of more than 10,000
people for the first time in 13 years since 1975. Fatal road accidents have
continued increasing. On the other hand, railway accidents showed a downward
trend in 1989, but serious accidents were reported, including the collision
of trains at Higashi-Nakano Station on the Chuo Line of East Japan Railway Company.
Taking a serious view of the situation, the Ministry of Transport, for its part,
is assiduously wrestling with measures to prevent railway accidents. For example,
the ministry is forging shead with safety measures by holding periodic meetings
of what it describes as a "Railway Safety Liaison Council, "which comprises
responsible personnel of JR companies and the Ministry of Transport. With regard
to the collision between the Daiichi Fuji-Maru, a fishing and pleasure boat,
and the Maritime Self-Defense Force submarine Nadashino, the ministry is now
formulating necessary steps to prevent the recurrence of a similar tragedy m
accordance with a "countermeasures platform concerning the safety of navigation"
decided by the government's Daiichi Fuji Maru Accident Countermeasures Head
quarters.
In order also to secure automobile safety, the Ministry of Transport is currently
studying the possibility of making it mandatory for large automobiles to be
fitted with antilocking breaking systems.
Furthermore, the ministry, in a move to ensure the safety of air traffic
in view of a dramatic increase in the volume of air transport, is now pushing
shead with the creation of an "Air Traffic Services System Center" (provisional
name). The ministry will also set up a "Wide-Area Rader Approach Control Station"
(provisional name) to cope with the congestion and diversification of air traffic
in the skies over the Kansai Distric in particular
(Table 14).
For the sound development of the transport industry, efforts to preserve
the natural environment are indispensable. Based on this standpoint, the Ministry
of Transport has been implementing for some time transport-related environmental
countermeasures, including steps to prevent traffic hazards and sea pollution.
To begin with respect to public hazards such as air pollution, noise and
vibration caused by vehicles, the ministry has enforced a variety of countermeasures,
including steps to prevent environmental pollution at its source and public
hazards in areas surrounding the sources of environmental pollution.
Again, the ministry is carrying out measures to prevent sea pollution from
an overall standpoint, including the strengthening of exhaust oil regulations
on shipping, to cope precisely with international trends in sea pollution.
As responsible organs designated under the Basic Law for Disaster Prevention
Messures, the Ministry of Transport, the Maritime Safety Agency and the Meteorological
Agency formulate disaster prevention plans annually, thereby pushing shead with
systematic steps on a comprehensive basis to strengthen observation, prediction
and forecasting systems for weather, earthquakes and volcanic activity; measures
for the protection of transport facilities and transport systems from disasters;
countermeasures for the preservation of national land, including the protection
of coasts,; and projects for the reconstruction of disaster-hit ports and harbors.
In particular, when an undersea volcano erupted in the offing of the eastern
Izu Peninsula, the Meteorological Agency and the Maritime Safety Agency took
the initiative in implementing timely countermeasures, including the supply
of information on the submarine volcano, the observation of undersea volcanic
activity and the issue of warnings.
In a bid to realize safer and more affluent ways of national life toward the 21at century, the Ministry of Transport will accelerate the development of new transport technologies for the construction of linear motor cars and "Techno-Super Liners '93" ; and the development and utilization of man-made satellites, including multi-purpose transport satellites; developmental research on the offshore deployment of marine structures; the development of port and harbor technologies, including the development of other technologies for the maintenance of traffic safety and for the prevention of disasters.
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