Legal Japan struggles to define dangerous driving

Japan is taking steps to tighten its laws on reckless driving, particularly in cases resulting in death or injury. A growing number of accidents and public outcry from bereaved families spurs this move. The Justice Ministry's expert panel recently proposed a draft report outlining stricter penalties for dangerous driving offences. This comes in response to numerous cases where the existing law's applicability has been unclear. While law enforcement agencies support the proposed revisions, legal experts warn that defining precise numerical standards for dangerous driving could be complex.

A woman who lost three of her close family members in an accident when a drunk truck driver smashed into a car in a city in Gunma Prefecture, eastern Japan, expressed dismay with the current legal system in an interview early this month. "If the victims' feelings were taken into account, I don't think the system would be set up the way it is today," said the woman, who lost her son, grandson and great-grandson in the accident on the afternoon of May 6. The truck driver accelerated to 90 kilometers per hour, exceeding the legal speed limit, and drifted across the median into oncoming traffic before hitting their car. A woman in another car that was also rammed suffered minor injuries. According to the accused truck driver Goro Suzuki's employer, although several empty bottles of the distilled spirit shochu were subsequently found inside his vehicle, the Maebashi District Public Prosecutors Office initially charged him with professional negligence resulting in death. The family members of the those who died, who were not satisfied with the indictment, continued their demands, and the district attorney's office later found that alcohol was a factor during a supplemental investigation, changing Suzuki's indictment in October to dangerous driving resulting in manslaughter.

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The recent meeting of the Japanese government's expert panel focused on German legal precedents for establishing numerical standards for dangerous driving, particularly regarding alcohol consumption. In Germany, a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 1.1 milligrams per millilitre of blood is considered a legal threshold for dangerous driving under the influence of alcohol. The Japanese panel acknowledged the German approach, recognizing that BAC influences everyone similarly. They also proposed setting numerical speed limits to strengthen enforcing dangerous driving laws.

There have been instances where initial charges of negligence were later upgraded to dangerous driving. A notable example is the 2021 fatal accident involving a 19-year-old driver who crashed into a turning vehicle at a speed of 194 kph in a 60 kph zone. A similar case is currently being heard in the Oita District Court, where a 23-year-old driver faces a 12-year prison sentence for dangerous driving resulting in death. The defence, however, argues that the incident was merely a case of negligence.

Wow, I think he got away cheap:

A 23-year-old man was sentenced to eight years in prison for a fatal car accident in 2021. The court found him guilty of dangerous driving, speeding at 194 kilometres per hour, significantly exceeding the legal limit. During the trial, prosecutors argued for a more severe charge of dangerous driving resulting in death, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. However, the defence argued for a lesser charge of negligence resulting in death, with a maximum sentence of seven years.

Prosecutors cited two factors to support the charge of dangerous driving: the high speed, which made the vehicle difficult to control, and the reckless driving by the defendant in approaching another vehicle with the purpose of obstructing it. They stated that traveling at 194 kph could cause the car to become unstable due to road conditions, increasing the risk of an accident. They also argued that the defendant, familiar with the road from driving it approximately 30 times, knew his actions could put him in the way of vehicles turning right from the opposite lane. The defense countered that the vehicle remained within its lane at high speeds and argued that the defendant had no specific intent to obstruct another car.

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Initially, the driver was indicted without arrest on a charge of negligence resulting in death. However, the charge was upgraded to dangerous driving resulting in death following protests and a petition from the victim's family. The court's ruling comes amid heightened public attention on fatal accidents caused by reckless driving.