Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Have you ever called the police?
This is a fun topic of discussion with my students, but most of them haven’t ever needed to call. I’ve called the police a couple times in the U.S., but yesterday was my first experience calling the police in Japan!! Yesterday was also my first time calling the fire department!
Yes, I had a very exciting day!
While driving to the north of the island yesterday a white Toyota pulled out in front of me, then started driving on the right side of the road. I had one of those moments, “Am I supposed to be on the left side of the road?”
Then a car came in the opposite direction and the Toyota swerved back into the left lane. It continued to serve all over the road, and it was obvious he was a drunk driver. Because it’s 5:30 in the evening and there are many kids on bicycles or walking on the streets I decided to report it. He had many close-calls in just a couple hundred meters.
I dial 119, explain the situation and finally they ask, “Where’s the fire?”
Whoops.
I dial 110 for the police, and explain the whole situation over again while I attempt to follow this driver all around Aokata.
It should be noted the police had a much harder time understanding my location than the fire department did. I suppose the fire department just needs the general area and they can see the smoke, whereas the police really need to know the exact street to know where to go.
Eventually I just had them meet me at my usual gas station and there I explained the situation and gave all the details. A Japanese license plate is very complicated, too.
長崎５９せ１６−７４
And you can’t leave any part of it out!
After I explained everything that I saw I took the police to the last location I saw the car. It was still parked there and so I left the police to do his investigating. They said they might call me back to get an official statement, but as of this morning I haven’t heard from them.
Drunk driving is a huge offense in Japan. Penalties are severe, but I’m not sure they could actually prosecute this guy since I’m the only witness. He was an older man in his 50s or 60s and at one point he even stopped the car in the middle of the road, stumbled around, talked to a taxi driver and got back in to drive away.
There are so many children walking the streets, very narrow streets that don’t have any kind of sidewalk. Seeing this car speeding and serving past them was so scary. He was going 20 km over the speed limit and couldn’t even stay in our lane. I’ll have to follow up this story to see if anything is reported.
And because the police AND fire department could understand my Japanese so well, I'm having one of those "My language skills rock!" days!
So, have you ever called the police?
Have you ever called the police in a foreign language?
Leave a comment!
Yes, I had a very exciting day!
While driving to the north of the island yesterday a white Toyota pulled out in front of me, then started driving on the right side of the road. I had one of those moments, “Am I supposed to be on the left side of the road?”
Then a car came in the opposite direction and the Toyota swerved back into the left lane. It continued to serve all over the road, and it was obvious he was a drunk driver. Because it’s 5:30 in the evening and there are many kids on bicycles or walking on the streets I decided to report it. He had many close-calls in just a couple hundred meters.
I dial 119, explain the situation and finally they ask, “Where’s the fire?”
Whoops.
I dial 110 for the police, and explain the whole situation over again while I attempt to follow this driver all around Aokata.
It should be noted the police had a much harder time understanding my location than the fire department did. I suppose the fire department just needs the general area and they can see the smoke, whereas the police really need to know the exact street to know where to go.
Eventually I just had them meet me at my usual gas station and there I explained the situation and gave all the details. A Japanese license plate is very complicated, too.
長崎５９せ１６−７４
And you can’t leave any part of it out!
After I explained everything that I saw I took the police to the last location I saw the car. It was still parked there and so I left the police to do his investigating. They said they might call me back to get an official statement, but as of this morning I haven’t heard from them.
Drunk driving is a huge offense in Japan. Penalties are severe, but I’m not sure they could actually prosecute this guy since I’m the only witness. He was an older man in his 50s or 60s and at one point he even stopped the car in the middle of the road, stumbled around, talked to a taxi driver and got back in to drive away.
There are so many children walking the streets, very narrow streets that don’t have any kind of sidewalk. Seeing this car speeding and serving past them was so scary. He was going 20 km over the speed limit and couldn’t even stay in our lane. I’ll have to follow up this story to see if anything is reported.
And because the police AND fire department could understand my Japanese so well, I'm having one of those "My language skills rock!" days!
So, have you ever called the police?
Have you ever called the police in a foreign language?
Leave a comment!
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Back in high school we were playing capture the flag at night with flashlights. A brother of one of my friends had twisted the top of his flashlight to turn it on, but for some reason continued to twist it while sticking it in front of his face. The plastic piece at the head of the flashlight exploded under the added pressure and the shattered pieces went in to his eye. As he was screaming in pain and covering his eyes, we brought him back to my house and I called 911. After being taken to the hospital all the pieces were removed and he was alright though... That was the only time I've called.
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# posted by 
: 11:37 PM
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