In response to the sinking accident of a sightseeing boat off the Shiretoko Peninsula in Hokkaido, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has established a policy to oblige small pleasure boats to install drive recorders.
This was being considered in response to the opinions of the families of the victims of the sinking accident, and was approved at the national committee held on the 28th of last month.
Currently, it is not obligatory to install cameras such as drive recorders on small passenger ships, but in light of the fact that there are businesses that install cameras on a voluntary basis, we plan to install drive recorders for cars on small excursion boats in the future. After installation, it is obliged to use it for education and training, and it is also useful for grasping the situation when an accident occurs.
However, there are issues such as the waterproof performance of drive recorders and the difficulty of installing them on sightseeing boats that do not have roofs.
In addition, measures will be taken to inform passengers about where to store life jackets and how to wear them properly as soon as they board the ship.