# 道路交通法 / Road Traffic Act — 第五十三条 (Article 53) - 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: 第五十三条 (Article 53)（合図） — address `art-53` - Text in force since: 2026-07-21 - URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-53 - Permanent URL (e-Gov law ID, never renamed): https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-53 - 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. --- ### 第五十三条（合図） — (Signals) caption: Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System art-53 · https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-53 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-53 **第一項** 車両（自転車以外の軽車両を除く。次項及び第四項において同じ。）の運転者は、左折し、右折し、転回し、徐行し、停止し、後退し、又は同一方向に進行しながら進路を変えるときは、手、方向指示器又は灯火により合図をし、かつ、これらの行為が終わるまで当該合図を継続しなければならない。 art-53/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-53/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-53/par-1 When turning left, turning right, making a U-turn, driving slowly, stopping, backing up, or changing course while proceeding in the same direction, the driver of a vehicle (other than a light road vehicle that is not a bicycle; the same applies in paragraphs (2) and (4)) must signal by hand, turn signal, or turn light, and must continue to signal until the action is completed. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System **第二項** 車両の運転者は、環状交差点においては、前項の規定にかかわらず、当該環状交差点を出るとき、又は当該環状交差点において徐行し、停止し、若しくは後退するときは、手、方向指示器又は灯火により合図をし、かつ、これらの行為が終わるまで当該合図を継続しなければならない。 art-53/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-53/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-53/par-2 Notwithstanding the preceding paragraph, when leaving a roundabout or when slowing down, stopping, or backing up in a roundabout, the driver of a vehicle in the roundabout must signal by hand, turn signal, or turn light and must continue to give the signal until the action is completed. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System **第三項** 前二項の合図を行う時期及び合図の方法について必要な事項は、政令で定める。 art-53/par-3 · https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-53/par-3 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-53/par-3 Cabinet Order provides for the necessary particulars as regards when and how to signal as referred to in the preceding two paragraphs. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System **第四項** 車両の運転者は、第一項又は第二項に規定する行為を終わつたときは、当該合図をやめなければならないものとし、また、これらの規定に規定する合図に係る行為をしないのにかかわらず、当該合図をしてはならない。 art-53/par-4 · https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-53/par-4 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-53/par-4 Having completed an action provided for in paragraph (1) or (2), the driver of a vehicle must stop signaling; the driver of a vehicle must not signal if not taking the action for which one of those paragraphs prescribes that signal. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System --- ## Cites - art-53/par-1: 次項 → 道路交通法 第五十三条第二項 (Article 53, paragraph (2)), art-53/par-2 — https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-53/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-53/par-2 - art-53/par-1: 第四項 → 道路交通法 第五十三条第四項 (Article 53, paragraph (4)), art-53/par-4 — https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-53/par-4 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-53/par-4 - art-53/par-2: 前項 → 道路交通法 第五十三条第一項 (Article 53, paragraph (1)), art-53/par-1 — https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-53/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-53/par-1 - art-53/par-3: 前二項 → 道路交通法 第五十三条第一項 (Article 53, paragraph (1)), art-53/par-1 — https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-53/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-53/par-1 - art-53/par-3: 前二項 → 道路交通法 第五十三条第二項 (Article 53, paragraph (2)), art-53/par-2 — https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-53/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-53/par-2 - art-53/par-4: 第一項 → 道路交通法 第五十三条第一項 (Article 53, paragraph (1)), art-53/par-1 — https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-53/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-53/par-1 - art-53/par-4: 第二項 → 道路交通法 第五十三条第二項 (Article 53, paragraph (2)), art-53/par-2 — https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-53/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-53/par-2 ## Cited by 5 provisions cite this one. No official source publishes this direction. - 道路交通法 第五十三条第一項（合図） — https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-53/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-53/par-1 - 道路交通法 第五十三条第二項（合図） — https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-53/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-53/par-2 - 道路交通法 第五十三条第三項（合図） — https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-53/par-3 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-53/par-3 - 道路交通法 第五十三条第四項（合図） — https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-53/par-4 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-53/par-4 - 道路交通法 第百二十条第一項第六号 — https://japanlaw.org/en/road-traffic-act/art-120/par-1/item-6 · https://japanlaw.org/l/335AC0000000105/art-120/par-1/item-6 --- ## 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