車の逆走

[katafei]

http://www.fukuishimbun.co.jp/modules/n ... yid=260096

I've been reading this bit of news for practice.
but I'm not sure I understand it correctly. Are there companies in Japan who run and own bits of highway?

高速道路会社６社と地方の公社３社の計９社が運営する全国の高速道路で確認された車の逆走は、データがある２００２年から０８年までの７年間で計７１４６件に上ることが２０日、共同通信のまとめで分かった.

6 highwaycompanies and 3 of the nine other (smaller?) companies....
and then I think it's going on about cars backing up (車の逆走)? This I'm not sure about....and this backing up is the cause of all the accidents they are referring to in this article??

[Oracle]

逆走 means a vehicle is going the wrong along a street/road - against the traffic

[chikara]

..... Are there companies in Japan who run and own bits of highway? .....

Yes. Some highways are privately owned and motorists pay a toll to use them.

..... it's going on about cars backing up (車の逆走)? This I'm not sure about....and this backing up is the cause of all the accidents they are referring to in this article??

The article is about the incidence of accidents caused by motorists going the wrong way, not necessarily in reverse.

[Mike Cash]

I've had this happen to me about 5 or 6 times. Can't decide if it is more scary, more humorous, or more annoying.

[furrykef]

A classic joke:

A man was driving down the freeway when his wife called his cell phone.
"Herman, I just heard on the news that there's a car going the wrong way on Route 280. Please be careful!"
"It's not just one car," said Herman, "It's hundreds of them!"

[katafei]

Okay, thanks, that makes a lot more sense....
I was wondering why all these people were driving backwards on the highway

[Harisenbon]

..... Are there companies in Japan who run and own bits of highway? .....

Yes. Some highways are privately owned and motorists pay a toll to use them.

I was under the impression that almost all highways were privately owned (ever since Nexco became a private company, like the Post Office). I occasionally see local-government run highways, but they are usually much smaller in scale.

[Mike Cash]

..... Are there companies in Japan who run and own bits of highway? .....

Yes. Some highways are privately owned and motorists pay a toll to use them.

I was under the impression that almost all highways were privately owned (ever since Nexco became a private company, like the Post Office). I occasionally see local-government run highways, but they are usually much smaller in scale.

It would probably be well to nail down our terminology. It would seem you are thinking about tollways/expressways. There are oodles and oodles of national highways (国道) and prefectural highways (県道).

[Harisenbon]

It would probably be well to nail down our terminology. It would seem you are thinking about tollways/expressways. There are oodles and oodles of national highways (国道) and prefectural highways (県道).

Ahh, 国道... I never even consider those HIghways because they really just seem like any other road (plus the fact that they're so ubiquitous). When I see highway, I always think of 高速道路.

NEXCO is also not very clear on what their English terminology is. Officially the 高速道路 is called an "Expressway" but then they refer to it as a "Highway" in all of their campaigns and promotional materials. :/

[Endo]

Highway, expressway, freeway, when I see 「高速道路」, I just see high-speed road