Police in the Japanese province of Okinawa have been struggling with a phenomenon called rojo-ne, which translates literally as "sleeping on the road". That's exactly what's happening quite frequently in Okinawa, with police reporting over 7,000 cases recorded in 2019 alone.
Some of those, unfortunately, resulted in the loss of human lives, and authorities are desperate to put an end to this. Police have seen no improvement and continue to deal with this issue. The thing that most frequently causes people to fall asleep on the roads is alcohol, as the vast majority of offenders are intoxicated.
Some also think that the province's warm climate year-round has something to do with it. Plus waking up rojo-ne offenders can be dangerous, as there have been cases where people under the influence of alcohol started fights with those trying to help them. It is for this reason that police advise drivers to simply turn on their cars' emergency lights and call the police, instead of trying to wake up offenders themselves.
Source: Mainichi.jp Image © 2020 GettyImages