Chapter 11. Safety Measures and Technological Developments
Enhanced by the Ministry of Transport
1. Enhancement of Traffic Safety Measures
The Ministry of Transport acknowledges that safety is the backbone of transport
administration. In all areas (ie. Land, sea, and air), policies to ensure traffic
safety are promoted under the Fifth Fundamental Plan of Traffic Safety, which
involves the construction of traffic safety facilities, the maintenance of safety
with regard to transport machinery and tools, and the management of reliable services
standards, not to mention the extended provisions of rescue measures and remedies
for victims suffering from accidents and disasters.
2. Pushing Forward Countermeasures to Prevent Disasters
Under the Fundamental Law on Disasters, the Ministry of Transport, the Maritime
Safety Agency, and the Meteorological Agency is trying to: reinforce forecasting/monitoring
institutions; prevent disasters of traffic facilities with effective countermeasures;
preserve territorial land by such practices as coastal works; and rehabilitate
disaster-stricken areas, all but universally and systematically
Priority of restoration works is especially given to areas affected by the
earthquake in the southwestern part of offshore Hokkaido in July 1993, disasters
caused by heavy rainfall in August 1993 and by the violent eruption of land Mountain.
Section 3. Promotion of Technological Development
The direction of technological development in general transportation was determined
by the Council for Transport Technology in 1991, and those of railways and shipping
in December 1993 and June 1994 respectively. The Ministry of Transport is to follow
the objectives of these reports to employ measures for advancing transport technology.
Section 4. Speeded up Application of Information Systems
The Ministry of Transport is aiming to improve security, user-convenience,
and the efficiency of business practices. To materialize these objectives, the
information systems are to be speede up by realizing Electronic Data Interchange
(EDI), introducing card-systems, establishing database systems for tourists and
sophisticated meteorological information services.
