4 ms·

I don't agree with this. I'm from the US and have now lived in Japan for 6+ years. We have zero on street parking around the city, yet we joke that the hazard l

I don't agree with this. I'm from the US and have now lived in Japan for 6+ years. We have zero on street parking around the city, yet we joke that the hazard lights button is the "park anywhere" button, and you see it all the time. Because nobody strongly abuses this, it generally works fine and people go on with their lives around them. Even with the small neighborhood streets around Tokyo, you rarely see it being treated as an issue. At worst, if a truck is trying to pass, a quick honk will cause whoever is driving to rush out and move the car. I do get disillusioned sometimes though, living in a society where people have a general level of respect for each other.

rTX5CMRXIfFG 4y ago
> Because nobody strongly abuses this There’s your likely reason for why the rule is strictly enforced in the US. Really, it makes no sense to me that people demand and expect law enforcement to work equally for everyone while also wanting to make an exception of themselves.
notyourwork 4y ago
> I do get disillusioned sometimes though, living in a society where people have a general level of respect for each other. This might have something to do with it.
technothrasher 4y ago
> the hazard lights button is the "park anywhere" button I first saw this behavior when I went to school in Rochester, NY and wondered what the hell everybody was doing. Never encountered it growing up outside of Boston.
PebblesHD 4y ago
Fascinating that you arrived at such a similar phrase for this. In my group we call them ‘park anywhere lights’ I spend 3+ months a year between Fukuoka and Tokyo, but outside my group of friends this concept has never really been discussed. I also agree on the baseline level of respect and order, going back to Sydney is sometimes jarring where some things don’t ‘just work’ as they do here.
ginnungagap 4y ago
This is very common behaviour (and known as the "park wherever the f you want" button among my friends) in Italy as well. But italians are not exactly the best example of drivers to imitate and learn from
jvidalv 4y ago
Same in Spain, and I guess most of Europe, when you are parking temporarily ( < 5 minutes normally ) somewhere you shouldn't you put the hazard lights on. But I'm not talking about blocking the road entirely, of course that's not the case, just parking in places that is not allowed to park statically.

rTX5CMRXIfFG 4y ago

> Because nobody strongly abuses this There’s your likely reason for why the rule is strictly enforced in the US. Really, it makes no sense to me that people demand and expect law enforcement to work equally for everyone while also wanting to make an exception of themselves.

notyourwork 4y ago

> I do get disillusioned sometimes though, living in a society where people have a general level of respect for each other. This might have something to do with it.

technothrasher 4y ago

> the hazard lights button is the "park anywhere" button I first saw this behavior when I went to school in Rochester, NY and wondered what the hell everybody was doing. Never encountered it growing up outside of Boston.

PebblesHD 4y ago

Fascinating that you arrived at such a similar phrase for this. In my group we call them ‘park anywhere lights’ I spend 3+ months a year between Fukuoka and Tokyo, but outside my group of friends this concept has never really been discussed. I also agree on the baseline level of respect and order, going back to Sydney is sometimes jarring where some things don’t ‘just work’ as they do here.

ginnungagap 4y ago

This is very common behaviour (and known as the "park wherever the f you want" button among my friends) in Italy as well. But italians are not exactly the best example of drivers to imitate and learn from

jvidalv 4y ago

Same in Spain, and I guess most of Europe, when you are parking temporarily ( < 5 minutes normally ) somewhere you shouldn't you put the hazard lights on. But I'm not talking about blocking the road entirely, of course that's not the case, just parking in places that is not allowed to park statically.