# 道路交通法 / Road Traffic Act — 第二十六条 (Article 26) - Law: 道路交通法 (Road Traffic Act), 昭和三十五年法律第百五号 - English title "Road Traffic Act": Ministry of Justice translation - Kind: Act — the distinction between 法律 (Act), 政令 (Cabinet Order), 省令 (Ministerial Order) and 条例 (local ordinance) decides who may issue it and what it may say. - Provision: 第二十六条 (Article 26)（車間距離の保持） — address `art-26` - Text in force since: 2026-07-21 - URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-26 - Permanent URL (e-Gov law ID, never renamed): https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-26 - Every provision below carries its address and both URLs on the line under it. - Japanese text: e-Gov 法令検索, Digital Agency (デジタル庁). English: as marked on each line below. Only the Japanese as published by the government has legal effect; the text below is a copy of it. Every English rendering below is a translation and says which kind: the Ministry of Justice's translation, or this site's machine translation, whose model and date the Sources list names. They are never merged and never substituted for one another. --- ### 第二十六条（車間距離の保持） — (Maintaining Distance between Vehicles) caption: Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System art-26 · https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-26 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-26 **第一項** 車両等は、同一の進路を進行している他の車両等の直後を進行するときは、その直前の車両等が急に停止したときにおいてもこれに追突するのを避けることができるため必要な距離を、これから保たなければならない。 art-26/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-26/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-26/par-1 When proceeding down the road in a vehicle or streetcar immediately behind another vehicle or streetcar on the same course, the driver must maintain the distance that would be necessary to allow the driver to avoid a collision even if the vehicle or streetcar traveling immediately in front of it were to stop suddenly. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System ## Cited by 4 provisions cite this one. No official source publishes this direction. - 道路交通法 第七十一条第一項第五号の四（運転者の遵守事項） — https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-71/par-1/item-5-4 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-71/par-1/item-5-4 - 道路交通法 第百十七条の二の二第一項第八号ニ — https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-117-2-2/par-1/item-8/sub-4 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-117-2-2/par-1/item-8/sub-4 - 道路交通法 第百十九条第一項第四号 — https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-119/par-1/item-4 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-119/par-1/item-4 - 道路交通法 第百二十条第一項第二号 — https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-120/par-1/item-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-120/par-1/item-2 --- ## Sources - e-Gov 法令検索, Digital Agency (デジタル庁) — 道路交通法 — the text in force from 2026-07-21 (https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/335AC0000000105/20260721_508AC0000000052), retrieved 2026-10-13 - Japanese Law Translation Database System, Ministry of Justice (法務省) — Road Traffic Act — Ministry of Justice translation (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/2962/tb), retrieved 2026-10-13 - This site's parser, version 190 — 道路交通法 — structure, counts, cross-references and defined terms, computed 2026-10-13