# 道路交通法 / Road Traffic Act — 第三十三条 (Article 33) - 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: 第三十三条 (Article 33)（踏切の通過） — address `art-33` - Text in force since: 2026-07-21 - URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-33 - Permanent URL (e-Gov law ID, never renamed): https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-33 - 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. --- ### 第三十三条（踏切の通過） — (Going Over Railroad Crossings) caption: Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System art-33 · https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-33 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-33 **第一項** 車両等は、踏切を通過しようとするときは、踏切の直前（道路標識等による停止線が設けられているときは、その停止線の直前。以下この項において同じ。）で停止し、かつ、安全であることを確認した後でなければ進行してはならない。ただし、信号機の表示する信号に従うときは、踏切の直前で停止しないで進行することができる。 art-33/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-33/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-33/par-1 Before going over a railroad crossing, the driver of a vehicle or streetcar must stop immediately in front of the railroad crossing (or immediately in front of any stop line established by road signs or markings; the same applies hereinafter in this paragraph) and must not proceed until after checking that it is safe to do so; provided, however, that the vehicle or streetcar may proceed without stopping immediately before a railroad crossing when complying with a signal indicated by a traffic light. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System **第二項** 車両等は、踏切を通過しようとする場合において、踏切の遮断機が閉じようとし、若しくは閉じている間又は踏切の警報機が警報している間は、当該踏切に入つてはならない。 art-33/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-33/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-33/par-2 A vehicle or streetcar must not enter a railroad crossing while a railroad crossing gate is closing or closed or while a railroad crossing alarm is sounding. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System **第三項** 車両等の運転者は、故障その他の理由により踏切において当該車両等を運転することができなくなつたときは、直ちに非常信号を行う等踏切に故障その他の理由により停止している車両等があることを鉄道若しくは軌道の係員又は警察官に知らせるための措置を講ずるとともに、当該車両等を踏切以外の場所に移動するため必要な措置を講じなければならない。 art-33/par-3 · https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-33/par-3 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-33/par-3 If the driver of a vehicle or streetcar becomes unable to drive the vehicle or streetcar at a railroad crossing due to a malfunction or other such circumstance, the driver must immediately take measures, such as giving an emergency signal, to inform a staff member of the railroad or tramway or a police officer that a vehicle or streetcar is stopped at the railroad crossing due to a malfunction or other such circumstance, and must also take the necessary measures to move the vehicle or streetcar to a place other than the railroad crossing. machine translation, not official --- ## Cites - art-33/par-1: この項 → 道路交通法 第三十三条第一項 (Article 33, paragraph (1)), art-33/par-1 — https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-33/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-33/par-1 ## Cited by 3 provisions cite this one. No official source publishes this direction. - 道路交通法 第三十三条第一項（踏切の通過） — https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-33/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-33/par-1 - 道路交通法 第七十五条の二十四第一項（特定自動運行の特則） — https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-75-24/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-75-24/par-1 - 道路交通法 第百十九条第一項第五号 — https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-119/par-1/item-5 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-119/par-1/item-5 --- ## 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 - claude-sonnet-5-5 — Machine translation, batch road-traffic-act-20261013T074321-003, translated 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