From World

Faced with rising crime, Japanese police are turning to technology, as police in the southern prefecture of Fukuoka this month revealed their latest gizmo: an automatic motorcycle catcher.

Motorcycle gangs called bosozoku are the bane of Japanese police. These irreverent youths race recklessly through the streets with an unmuffled roar that disturbs the country's vaunted peace and quiet.

Arriving like Wile E. Coyote's latest package from Acme, the Motorcycle Arresting Device (that's MAD, if you missed it) is supposed to let police win this running cat-and-mouse game. Other departments try to lure the cyclists to a roadblock and drop a net on them. But Fukuoka is trying a new approach with the purchase of 30 of the devices at $630 apiece.

The strategy is to get the motorcyclists to drive down one of several routes on which police have planted a series of MAD metallic boxes, which lie flat and look like metal plates on the pavement. As a motorcycle races over a plate, the lid flips up after the front wheel has passed. That exposes an adhesive, which sticks to the motorcycle's rear tire. The adhesive is attached to a wire, which is hooked to a rope that is drawn onto the axle. That snarls the wheel and halts the forward progress of the bike--theoretically in a gradual manner so the rider is not thrown off.

''There's a lot of public outcry to catch these bikers,'' said Norio Kita, head of the biker gang task force of the Fukuoka police. ''We want to catch them, but we can't injure them. Maybe a slight injury is permissible, but if it led to a fatal injury, we'd be very concerned.''

In practice, the devices slowed the bikes so smoothly the riders simply got off and fled. ''Nobody was hurt,'' Kita said. ''When we did it in September, we caught one suspect and nine motorcycles.'' The other riders, he said, ''ran away like spiders.''

The devices have turned out to be pretty labor intensive. Police have to corral the bikers, quickly lay down the contraptions and then chase the fleeing riders. But police are not deterred--they say the four cyclists they have caught in four months of using MAD have fingered other gang members.

And then there was the time the motorcyclists spotted the MAD plates and swerved at the last minute. The pursuing police car was not so agile: Its front wheels were snarled when the car screeched over the MAD plates.

Chalk it up as a great idea gone awry.

By DOUG STRUCK WASHINGTON POST FOREIGN SERVICE

ERiding on two wheels in Vietnam's chaotic traffic is an adventure that too often ends in death or serious injury. The number of accidents and fatalities has more than tripled over the past decade. People have taken advantage of rising living standards in one of the world's poorest countries to upgrade from bicycles to low-powered motorcycles - but riders flout traffic rules and shun helmets.

A new law requiring helmets on some major roads appears to have had little impact. Violators get only warnings from police. Surviving Vietnam's roads requires a good horn, good brakes - and lots of good luck. About 95 percent of the traffic is on two wheels, dominated by small motorcycles that are perfect to putt along at under 35 mph and roll up onto the pavement to park.

At least a few motorcycles or bicycles run every stoplight. People make left turns from the far right and vice versa. Youths weave dangerously through congestion, missing other vehicles by fractions of an inch. Many motorcycles have no mirrors and are a favourite target of thieves.

In 1990, 6,110 accidents with 2,268 deaths and 4,956 injuries were reported. Last year, Vietnam reported 21,538 accidents with 7,095 deaths and 21,538 injuries.

The government estimates Vietnam's 78 million people have 6 million motorbikes, with half a million more each year and few taken out of service. The country has about 400,000 cars.

By PAUL ALEXANDER, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (AP)