Japan Enacts Bill for Dangerous Driving Numerical Standards

Tokyo, June 25 (Jiji Press)–The Diet, Japan’s parliament, enacted a bill Thursday to introduce numerical standards for defining dangerous driving resulting in death or injury. At a plenary meeting, the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, unanimously approved the bill to revise the law on punishment of acts causing death or injury by automobile driving. The bill had cleared the House of Councillors, the upper chamber, in April. The revised law, expected to be enforced in summer, stipulates that the charge of dangerous driving be uniformly applied to accidents resulting in death or injury caused by exceeding the speed limit by more than 50 kilometers per hour on ordinary roads. The statutory penalty for dangerous driving causing death or injury is heavier than that for negligent driving resulting in death or injury. But decisions by prosecutors and judges on whether to apply dangerous driving charges have been inconsistent as definitions are vague under the existing law, such as “driving at speeds too high to control a vehicle.” In a fatal accident caused by a car driven at 194 kph in the southwestern city of Oita in 2021, a high court rejected a lower court decision and ruled that the case did not meet the requirements for dangerous driving. The Fukuoka High Public Prosecutors Office has appealed the case to the Supreme Court. Following the revision, the crime of dangerous driving will be applied to accidents caused by exceeding the speed limit by more than 50 kph on roads with the limit of 60 kph, mainly ordinary roads, and by more than 60 kph on roads with the limit of over 60 kph, mainly expressways. Drunken driving will constitute dangerous driving at alcohol levels of 0.5 milligram or more per liter of breath tested or 1.0 milligram or more per milliliter of blood, equivalent to levels reached when an adult consumed two 633-milliliter bottles of beer. Even when the excessive speed and alcohol levels come below the numerical standards, the charge of dangerous driving may be applied if accidents resulting in death or injury were caused “by driving at high speeds that make it extremely difficult to avoid grave traffic dangers” or “under the condition where normal driving is difficult due to the influence of alcohol.” Dangerous driving will also include drifting, or intentionally causing a loss of wheel traction to allow the vehicle to skid sideways. Regarding the bill, the Lower House Judicial Affairs Committee had introduced a supplementary resolution calling for discussion on whether to add the act of driving while doing something else, such as using smartphones, to dangerous driving. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]