The statute of limitations expired for at least 103 deadly hit-and-run accidents from 2013 through 2022, drawing anger and frustration from the victims’ families.

Legal changes have been made to strengthen penalties against perpetrators of such accidents.

But calls for waiving the legal time limit on hit-and-run investigations have not been met.

All 103 hit-and-runs over the period were treated as cases of “negligent driving causing death,” which has a statute of limitations of 10 years.

Thirteen of the cases were reported in Saitama Prefecture, followed by seven in Chiba Prefecture, six each in Ibaraki and Osaka prefectures, five each in Tokyo and Gifu Prefecture, and four each in Yamagata, Tochigi, Kanagawa and Fukuoka prefectures.

According to National Police Agency statistics, 2,550 fatal traffic accidents occurred in 2022, and 99 of them were hit-and-runs.

That year, 4,837 drivers were charged in connection with hit-and-run accidents, or 69.3 percent of all such cases. It was the first time in three years for arrest ratio to fall below 70 percent.

According to court testimonies and other sources, 16.5 percent of those perpetrators drove away because they thought they “caused no significant damage.”

Many other offenders said they were “not fully aware” that they had hit someone, or that they “felt afraid” about causing an accident.

Some were driving under the influence of alcohol. And others said they fled to evade responsibility.

SHATTERED HAPPINESS

One family who lost a loved one in a hit-and-run saw the investigation end earlier this year.

Daiki Sejimo, 48, said his father, Ko, was killed by a motorist on May 30, 2013, on his way home from the eatery that he ran. He was 64.

Sejimo followed in his father’s footsteps as a chef and now owns a Japanese-style restaurant in Tomioka, Gunma Prefecture.

Gunma prefectural police investigated the death. But there were very few surveillance cameras around the scene, and the rain quickly washed away most traces of the accident.

“Although the statute of limitations ran out, we can never forget that our family’s happiness was destroyed by an accident,” Sejimo said. “I wanted the perpeterator to apologize.”

MURDER CHARGE SOUGHT

In June 2022, a 19-year-old college student was killed in a hit-and-run incident in Beppu, Oita Prefecture.

The NPA in September 2023 put a 27-year-old suspect, Yoichi Hatta, on the national list of important wanted persons. He is the first person placed on the list over a suspected violation of the Road Traffic Law.

The same month, the father of the victim filed a criminal complaint with Oita prefectural police.

The father asked that Hatta be charged with murder.

“This is undoubtedly a homicide case, given that an automobile was used as a lethal weapon,” the father told reporters.

Investigative sources estimate that Hatta was driving between 80 kph and 100 kph, far above the maximum speed limit, when his vehicle struck the student.

The statute of limitations for offences under the Road Traffic Law is seven years. But there is no limit for murder.

Prefectural police are considering treating the student’s death as a murder case.

But to make such a charge stick, investigators would need to question the suspect and determine that he had “an intention to kill.”

Shunkichi Takayama, a lawyer who is knowledgeable about traffic offences, said bereaved families heightened their calls for stricter penalties for hit-and-run accidents in the 2000s.

As a result, the Road Traffic Law was revised in 2007 to raise the maximum imprisonment period from five years to 10 years for hit-and-run cases.

However, hit-and-runs were not included in crimes whose statute of limitations were eliminated in April 2010 under an amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The change was limited to capital crimes, such as murder.

Takayama said time limits are set for criminal investigations because relevant parties often cannot clearly remember details about old cases.

Evidence can also be dispersed and lost as time passes.

However, Takayama said these problems can now be overcome with advances in investigation technology.

“The statute of limitations should be extended in a rational manner for deadly hit-and-run accidents as well,” Takayama said.

(This article was written by Doni Tani, Hiroshi Nakano, Arata Mitsui and Daichi Itakura.)