Photo/Illutration Members of the Legislative Council subcommittee discuss dangerous driving rules at the Justice Ministry on Oct. 24. (Yuki Nikaido)

Japan plans to set criteria for dangerous driving prosecutions, including strict limits on alcohol consumption and high speeds, in a crackdown on malicious traffic accidents. 

The Justice Ministry on Dec. 9 presented a draft of new numerical standards at a subcommittee of the Legislative Council, an advisory body to the justice minister, to revise the requirements for dangerous driving resulting in death or injury.

The proposal would apply to accidents caused by drivers with a blood alcohol level equivalent to consuming two large bottles of beer, or by exceeding the speed limit by more than 50 kph on ordinary roads and 60 kph on expressways.

The subcommittee is expected to finalize its conclusions by the end of the year.

The ministry aims to submit a bill to amend the law punishing death or injury caused by dangerous driving during next year’s regular Diet session.

The maximum penalty for dangerous driving resulting in death or injury is 20 years of imprisonment, stricter than the seven-year maximum for negligent driving resulting in death or injury.

Under the current law, the offense applies when a driver causes an accident while in a state where normal driving is difficult due to alcohol consumption or at a speed where controlling the vehicle is difficult.

Since these requirements are vague, cases that should be treated as dangerous driving have been prosecuted as negligence, prompting victims’ families to call for reform.

The ministry began discussions in the Legislative Council subcommittee in March and presented two proposals each for numerical standards on drinking and speeding in September.

The ministry later narrowed the focus to standards with higher numerical thresholds that present a greater hurdle for application.

The aim is to treat particularly malicious and dangerous driving as intentional crimes rather than negligent ones, imposing penalties comparable to those for assault or fatal injury.

For drinking, the ministry clarified the amount that makes normal driving difficult by setting a numerical threshold: a breath alcohol concentration of 0.5 milligrams or more per liter.

This level, according to World Health Organization indicators, impairs a driver's concentration and slows reaction time.

It corresponds to a state where a 60-kilogram man or a 50-kg woman has consumed two large bottles of beer or two to three servings of sake.

For speeding, the ministry adopted a new concept: speeds at which avoiding serious traffic danger is extremely difficult.

The standard is exceeding the speed limit by 60 kph on roads with a maximum speed over 60 kph, and by 50 kph on roads with a maximum speed of 60 kph or less.

For example, on an expressway with a 100 kph limit, driving at 160 kph would qualify as dangerous driving; on an ordinary road with a 60 kph limit, 110 kph would qualify.

Speeds “close to” these thresholds may also be subject to the law, but the ministry indicated that if the speed is more than 10 kph below the standard, application would be difficult.

In addition, “drifting driving,” which involves oversteering and sliding on a road, will be newly classified as dangerous driving.

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