Fukui Prefectural Police reported on the 17th that deficiencies were discovered in road signs at 1600 locations within the prefecture, particularly concerning pedestrian crossings without traffic signals. This situation arose following a police officer's report in April 2025 about an insufficient number of signs at one intersection. Upon further investigation of 3200 pedestrian crossings, half were found to have inadequate signage, which is supposed to be clearly visible to vehicles as mandated by road traffic laws.

Over the past five years, the police had incorrectly penalized ten individuals at these deficient locations under a violation for obstructing pedestrian crossings, amounting to total fines of 93,000 yen. The police are committed to refunding these fines and associated costs for violation seminars, as they aim to rectify the wrongful categorizations of these drivers as violators when, under normal circumstances, they would have been classified as good drivers.

This revelation indicates a long-standing issue where deficiencies in signs at nearly half of the signal-less intersections had gone unaddressed during previous inspections, as no prior reports had identified these problems. The Traffic Regulation Division acknowledged a lack of knowledge and understanding regarding proper signage requirements and is planning to move forward with the necessary installations to ensure adherence to safety regulations in the future.