Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office officially announced that it intends to prosecute cyclists who repeatedly violate road traffic laws in Japan. Ignoring a red light or not stopping when necessary may also become subject to penalty, with a three-month jail sentence or a fine of up to 50,000 yen. In addition, riding parallel with other cyclists or failure to make use of one’s light under conditions of poor visibility could carry fines of up to 20,000 yen and 50,000 yen, respectively.
bicycle (Page 2)
Back in my day, kids used to put little plastic beads on their bicycle wheel spokes to make them “flashy.” Now it looks as if these kids grew up and got training in optics.
Plastic beads have been replaced with synchronized LED lights which generate colorful animations as an ordinary bike wheel spins away. Not only that, you will be able to create your own animation to be displayed on your computer and upload it to your bike with ANIPOV when it goes on sale at the end of January 2013.
Japan has the robot market covered pretty well, with a robot for almost every occasion. We’ve already seen a restaurant filled with fembots, a 24-fingered hair washing robot, and a $1.25 million boardable mecha.
This time, Japan brings the world a tiny bipedal robot that can ride a bike and balance all by itself.
Since the invention of chain-driven transmission in the 1890s, the bicycle really hasn’t undergone any major structural changes.
And what could you possibly want to change? You’ve got two wheels for movement, handlebars for direction, a seat to hold your body weight and pedals to…
“Wait, pedals?”, thought the Germans. We don’t need no stinkin’ pedals.