An unbelievable scene on camera… Why do so many vehicles back up from the main line and enter the Tatsumi Daiichi PA on the Metropolitan Expressway?

I had never even imagined it.”

The photo above is of the entrance to the Tatsumi Daiichi Parking Area (hereafter referred to as “PA”) on the Metropolitan Expressway (hereafter referred to as “Metropolitan Expressway”). It is frequently closed at night. We received a report that trucks were often seen moving inexplicably near the exit of this Tatsumi Daiichi PA.

It was clearly left as a video on the live camera recorded on January 22 of this year. As can be clearly seen in the video attached to the second page of this article, the truck is moving inexplicably.

It stops on the main line with its hazard lights on, then backs up and enters the Tatsumi Daiichi PA from the “exit”. A regular car passing beside it also slowed down for a moment as if startled, and then passed by.

Wangan Go (@wangan_go_live), who operates the live camera, was also surprised when he first noticed it.

When I saw this moment, I had never imagined that there was a car entering Tatsumi Daiichi PA from the main line in the opposite direction, so I was very surprised.

Why not enter the Tatsumi Daiichi PA through the normal entrance?　Did they go too far and pass through the entrance when they wanted to enter? Professional drivers who are accustomed to driving on the Metropolitan Expressway are unlikely to go too far, while drivers who are not accustomed to driving on the expressway are not likely to instantly think of backing up to enter. In the end, the reason was probably because the entrance to Tatsumi Daiichi PA was closed. A truck driver who had entered the PA in reverse told us, “The Tatsumi Daiichi PA is frequently closed.

Tatsumi Daiichi PA is frequently closed, but it is one of the few PAs with a large number of large trucks parked there and is easy to use. If they are closing it to prevent roulette people, large trucks are out of the scope, right?　Myself and some of my colleagues have had no choice but to back up and enter through the exit.”

Roulettes” are vehicles that drive at speeds of 100 km/h or more, more than twice the 50 km/h speed limit, along the 15-km Metropolitan Expressway Central Loop Route (C1), which circles the heart of the city. It is also popular as a driving course at night when it is empty.

Around the same time on January 20, the installation of the “Tatsumi Jumping Platform” at the Tatsumi Daiichi PA also attracted attention. This is a bumpy surface with a height of about 10 to 11 cm, located near the exit. When passing through this area, cars naturally slow down because it is a bit of an uphill slope. However, a number of cars jumped by intentionally accelerating at a place where they should have decelerated. When we asked the person in charge of the Metropolitan Expressway what the purpose of the “Tatsumi Jumping Platform” was, he replied as follows.

The Tatsumi Daiichi PA has a bumpy surface as a measure to control the speed inside the PA from the viewpoint of ensuring safe traffic for customers and preventing noise pollution for residents living along the road, in response to the malicious and disruptive behavior of the Roulette gang and others.

The Metropolitan Expressway closed the entrance to the Tatsumi Daiichi PA at night and even built a “jump platform” in order to crack down on the “roulette tribe” who repeatedly drive dangerously.

However, the drivers of the large vehicles mentioned at the beginning of this article are the ones who will suffer if the entrance to the Tatsumi Daiichi PA is closed. Truck drivers are required by the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare to take breaks according to the amount of time they drive, such as 30 minutes after four hours of driving. When and how long breaks are taken is recorded in detail on the “digital tachograph” installed in the truck. Therefore, it would be somewhat troubling if PAs on the Metropolitan Expressway were closed without prior notice.

There are a total of 20 PAs on the Metropolitan Expressway, but the Metropolitan Expressway Traffic Police frequently close the Tatsumi Daiichi PA, Hakozaki PA, and Shibaura PA as a measure against the roulette crowd. The number of PAs that can be used by large vehicles is limited. 17 large vehicles can park at Tatsumi Daiichi PA, compared to 2 at Hakozaki PA and 5 at Shibaura PA. Moreover, Tatsumi Daiichi PA has no roof, making it more accessible for large truck drivers.

The Metropolitan Police Department’s Public Relations Division says it is not locked out. ……

Daikoku PA, located in the same Metropolitan Expressway, can park 58 large vehicles. This place is closed almost every week, especially on weekend nights, but since large vehicles are not eligible, they can use it without problems. Some may say, “If Tatsumi is not available, you can go to Daikoku,” but it is more than 35 km away.

Other than that, the only other Metropolitan Expressway PA in Tokyo that can park double-digit numbers of large vehicles is Oi PA, which has 11 parking spaces, excluding Tatsumi Daiichi PA. In other words, as shown in the video at the beginning of this article, stopping on the main line, turning on the hazard lamps, and backing in is a very dangerous thing to do, but for the truck driver in question, it may have been an act of desperation.

Knowing this situation, do the Metropolitan Police Department’s Expressway Traffic Police frequently close the Tatsumi Daiichi PA? In the first place, is there any effect in closing the Metropolitan Expressway PA as a measure against the roulette tribe?　When we asked the Metropolitan Police Department’s Public Relations Division, we received the following answer.

Even when the PA is closed, if a driver of a large vehicle requests a break from the Metropolitan Police Department or the Metropolitan Expressway Company, we will accommodate the request. The closure is a measure to prevent roulette people and galleries.

The PA closure has been in place since 2002, and there were a few complaints in the beginning, but since the closure has been ongoing, the measures have recently become widespread among drivers of large vehicles, and it is believed that only a small percentage of drivers back up from the exit to enter the PA. Naturally, there is a need to take action against malicious and dangerous drivers. Naturally, we are cracking down on malicious and dangerous drivers.

As drivers who comply with the Labor Standards Law may be aware, there are no service areas (SA) on the Metropolitan Expressway, but only PAs. Since the use of PAs is originally intended for short trips and rest breaks, drivers are requested to use SAs for breaks that involve sleeping for an extended period of time.

When asked when the “request to take a break” as stated by the Public Relations Division of the Metropolitan Police Department refers to, the response was, “It does not mean that you can take a break with prior notice, etc., but that when the PA is closed, if the driver of a large vehicle who is already resting in the PA makes a request, he or she will be allowed to continue the break. The reply was, “It means that when the PA is closed, if a driver of a large vehicle who is already resting in the PA makes a request, he or she will be allowed to continue resting.

The response from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Public Relations Division repeatedly emphasizes that the Tatsumi Daiichi PA does not “lock out” large trucks taking a break at night, but in reality, it is clear that large vehicles are still backing in from the exit to take a break. In other words, it may be asked whether the “surveillance” originally intended by the Metropolitan Police Department to “crack down on roulette gangs, etc.” is in fact being done adequately.

As seen in the video introduced above, if a driver of another car driving normally, who witnessed such an “impossible scene” as driving in reverse from an exit and entering the PA, were startled and braked suddenly, it cannot be denied that it could trigger a rear-end collision between that car and another car.” Before a “late-night tragedy” occurs, why not consider the flexibility of opening the entrance only to “large vehicles”?