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In light of emergency vehicles being unable to reach victims of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has announced the addition of 10 off-road bikes to their force.

The bikes will be used in disaster relief efforts when roads are too difficult to navigate with standard police vehicles. As this is the first time off-road bikes have been used by police forces in Japan, a practice session was held in Tokyo’s Koto Ward on March 25 to mark the occasion. All 10 of the new bikes and their riders were put through a series of tests. Click on to watch the bikes and their riders in action.

Update: the video has unfortunately been removed, but we’ve tracked down a similar display of police bike skill that also features the same kind of off-roaders that the Tokyo Police Department have just added to their arsenal.

Those are some impressive riding skills! We hope the new vehicles will help to save lives and deliver precious aid if and when Japan is hit with another major disaster.

Source: Yahoo! Japan via Hachima Kikou
Image: YouTube (SankeiNews)