Crime Eighteen-year sentence upheld for 2017 highway road rage case

A Japanese high court upheld Monday a sentence of 18 years in prison for a man convicted of a 2017 road rage incident that killed a couple and injured their two children and caused an outcry that led to stricter punishment for dangerous driving. The Tokyo High Court rejected the appeal of Kazuho Ishibashi, 32, who was convicted of dangerous driving at a lower court for forcing the car of Yoshihisa Hagiyama, 45. His family stopped on the passing lane of the Tomei Expressway in Kanagawa Prefecture on 5 June 2017, where a truck rear-ended it. Extensive news coverage of the incident sparked more significant public concern over dangerous driving. In 2020, the government enforced revisions to Japan's traffic laws that toughened punishment for road rage offences.

According to the Yokohama District Court's ruling in June 2022, Ishibashi was enraged after being warned by Hagiyama about the way he had parked his car in an expressway parking area just before the incident. Ishibashi pursued Hagiyama, who was traveling with his 39-year-old wife Yuka and their two daughters. Ishibashi drove directly in front of Hagiyama's car four times and repeatedly engaged in obstructive driving by slowing down and approaching close to Hagiyama's vehicle. Hagiyama subsequently took the risky action of stopping the car on the highway before being rear-ended by the truck. The defendant was handed the 18-year sentence at his first trial at the Yokohama District Court in December 2018. After an appeal, the Tokyo High Court in 2019 upheld the decision but quashed the ruling and sent the case back on a technicality, citing an illegal procedure by the lower court.

Click to expand...

The Supreme Court stated that the District Court had unlawfully reversed its pre-trial stance that Ishibashi's behaviour did not amount to reckless driving when it delivered its verdict. In a retrial at the lower court in June 2022, Ishibashi was again given an 18-year sentence, which he appealed again. The updated road traffic law, which took effect in June 2022, characterizes road rage as "disruptive driving," including aggressive tailgating and horn usage. Violators could face up to five years or a maximum fine of 1 million JPY (USD 6,600). Other dangerous behaviours classified as road rage include driving on the wrong side of the road, braking, and aggressively switching lanes.

Read more on the case:

senseless, what a complete waste

nice gaijin said:

senseless, what a complete waste

Click to expand...

Sorry for these unusually harsh words, but this creature represents the scum of humanity. During the first trial, when confronted with his actions that resulted in the death of two people, he replied to the court that he, too, had lost a lot: his fiancee had broken up their engagement in the course of the trial. When his second appeal was rejected this week, he allegedly threatened the judge, telling him: "Wait till I get out."

Is there an inherent evil?

Sounds like a traumatic yet happier ending for the fiance. Her life would have been miserable with that creep. Probably he's an abuser as well.