Japan Upper House OKs Specific Dangerous Driving Thresholds

(4th para should have read “… under a general provision,” instead of as sent) Tokyo, April 17 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the country’s parliament, unanimously voted for legislation to set numerical standards for defining dangerous driving resulting in death or injury at a plenary meeting Friday. The present law to punish acts of driving causing death or injury only has vague definitions on dangerous driving crimes subject to tougher penalties, such as “driving at speeds too high to control a vehicle,” leading to uneven decisions by prosecutors and judges on whether to apply dangerous driving charges to serious accident cases. The Upper House-passed amendments to the law stipulate over 50 kilometers per hour and 60 kph as criminal speed limit excesses on ordinary roads and expressways, respectively, and set an alcohol content of 0.5 milligram per liter of breath, or 1.0 milligram per milliliter of blood, as the threshold for drunken driving. But even if those numerical criteria are not met, the charges could be brought in trials over accidents resulting in death or injury under a general provision. In addition, drifting, or intentionally driving sideways, will newly be punished, according to the proposed law. The Upper House also approved by a unanimous vote an amendment bill to the road traffic law to ensure consistency between the two driving-related laws. Through deliberations in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, the revised laws are expected to be enacted during the ongoing regular parliamentary session and take effect in summer. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]