A vehicle peripheral monitoring apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus includes a forward monitoring unit for monitoring an obstacle within a predetermined forward area extending in a direction forward of an own vehicle; one or more forward-lateral monitoring units for monitoring an obstacle within a predetermined forward-lateral area extending in a direction lateral of the own vehicle relative to the predetermined forward area; and a traveling environment detecting unit for detecting a traveling environment of the own vehicle, wherein the monitoring with the forward-lateral monitoring units is suppressed when the traveling environment detecting unit detects that the own vehicle is traveling on a predetermined road including a highway, and a level of the suppressing of the monitoring with the forward-lateral monitoring unit is eased when the traveling environment detecting unit detects that the own vehicle is traveling in a predetermined area, including a junction, of the predetermined road.