<[Fact Check] How Effective Has Japan's 20-Year Campaign Against Drunk Driving Been: Has the Country Really Eliminated the Problem?> Featured Article

[Fact Check] How Effective Has Japan's 20-Year Campaign Against Drunk Driving Been: Has the Country Really Eliminated the Problem?

by  Storm Media, Li Chung-chien 

Published: November 17, 2017, 8:56 PM

Updated: November 17, 2017, 8:56 PM

Source: https://today.line.me/TW/pc/article/2pELxj?utm_source=lineshare

Image source: pixabay

The recent death of a bakery owner in Taichung, struck and killed by a drunk driver, has once again stirred deep public outrage in Taiwan over the scourge of drunk driving. Many have questioned the government's resolve and capacity to combat the problem. According to statistics from the National Police Agency of the Ministry of the Interior, 102 people died in drunk driving accidents in 2016 — a 76% reduction compared to 439 deaths in 2011. Yet behind every innocent life taken by a drunk driver lies a shattered family. Everyone still wants to ask: what more can be done?

Before 2002 (Heisei 14), Japan recorded more than 1,000 drunk driving fatalities every year. After 2009 (Heisei 21), however, drunk driving deaths fell to below 300 per year, and in recent years have hovered around 200. From 1,257 cases in Heisei 11 to 213 in Heisei 28 — how did Japan's government and society achieve this? Japan's National Police Agency writes on its drunk driving prevention page: "Drunk driving is an extremely serious and dangerous crime." On its chart tracking drunk driving fatalities, Japanese police specifically mark the dates of two cases that shook Japanese society — the 1999 Tomei Expressway drunk driving accident that killed two young children, and the 2006 Fukuoka Prefecture drunk driving accident that killed three young children — both of which became critical turning points in Japan's serious treatment of drunk driving.

The Tokyo Tomei Expressway Accident

On November 28, 1999 (Heisei 11), 49-year-old Yasutaka Inoue was driving with his wife Ikumi (31) and their two young daughters — 3-year-old Kanako and 1-year-old Chikako — along the Tomei Expressway in Setagaya, Tokyo. As the car slowed to pass through a toll booth, it was struck from behind by a 12-ton truck driven by Keiichi Taniwaki. The rear of Inoue's car immediately erupted in flames. Ikumi escaped the driver's seat and pulled her severely burned husband to safety, but their two daughters were trapped in the blaze. The horrifying scene was captured in its entirety by an Asahi Shimbun reporter who happened to be passing by, sending shockwaves through Japanese society.

In Heisei 13 (2001), Japan's Penal Code was amended to add Article 208-2, "Dangerous Driving Causing Death or Injury," introducing heavy sentences of up to 10 years for causing injury and up to 20 years for causing death. In Heisei 14 (2002), Japan's Road Traffic Act further increased penalties and broadened the scope of punishment beyond the drunk driver to include those who provided alcohol, those who provided the vehicle, those who requested the drunk person to drive, and passengers in the vehicle. Under government campaigns and severe penalties, Japan's drunk driving fatalities finally fell below 1,000 for the first time in Heisei 15 (2003), dropping to 781.

The Fukuoka Umi-no-Nakamichi Bridge Accident

Despite these gains, another tragedy struck in 2006 (Heisei 18). At around 10:50 PM on August 25, 33-year-old Tetsuo Ogami was driving with his wife Kaori (29) and their three children (aged 4, 3, and 1) across the Umi-no-Nakamichi Bridge over Hakata Bay in Fukuoka. A 22-year-old man named Dai Imabayashi, who had been drinking at a dinner with friends, rear-ended the family's car at high speed, sending it crashing through the bridge railing and plunging 15 meters into Hakata Bay, with the three young children trapped inside. The husband and wife escaped the submerged vehicle and dove back four times to rescue their children. Although they managed to pull out their second son Rinpei (3) and eldest daughter Saho (1), both died after being taken to hospital. Their eldest son Hiroki (4), who was not recovered until three hours later, also could not be saved.

Though this was just one of 612 drunk driving fatalities that year, the image of Ogami on the riverbank cradling his rescued children and urging them to "be strong and keep living," the prosecutor's reading of how the mother called out to her children in the pitch-black depths of the sea — "Please, grab Mommy's hands" — the photographs of three lovely children displayed in the media and courtroom, and the driver's initial attempt to flee the scene before drinking large amounts of water to conceal evidence of intoxication — all of this made the Umi-no-Nakamichi Bridge accident the most heartbreaking case among the tens of thousands of drunk driving fatalities of the Heisei era. It also prompted Japanese society to intensify its drunk driving prevention efforts, triggering three subsequent rounds of legislative reform. After Heisei 21 (2009), drunk driving fatalities in Japan consistently fell to fewer than 300 per year. Even so, Japan's National Police Agency acknowledges that drunk driving has not been entirely eliminated.

How Does Japan Punish Drunk Driving?

Japan's current administrative penalties for drunk driving include immediate license revocation for driving impairment, with a 3-year ban on retesting; a 2-year license revocation with a retesting ban if the breath alcohol level is 0.25 mg/L or above; and a 3-month license suspension for levels between 0.15 mg/L and 0.25 mg/L. In cases of drunk driving hit-and-run, the driver is barred from obtaining a license for the next 10 years. Criminal penalties are even more severe: impaired drunk driving carries a sentence of up to 5 years imprisonment or a fine of up to 1 million yen (approximately NTD 266,000); a breath alcohol level of 0.15 mg/L or above carries up to 3 years imprisonment or a fine of up to 500,000 yen (approximately NTD 133,000).

In addition to severe penalties for drunk drivers themselves, Japan imposes equally harsh punishment on those who provide a vehicle to a drunk driver — meaning that if the driver was impaired, the person who lent the vehicle also faces up to 5 years imprisonment or a fine of up to 1 million yen. Those who provided alcohol to the driver, or who rode as passengers in the vehicle, face up to 3 years imprisonment or a fine of up to 500,000 yen (when the driver was impaired), or up to 2 years imprisonment or a fine of up to 300,000 yen (when the driver's breath alcohol level exceeded 0.15 mg/L). This is precisely why Japanese izakaya owners will never serve alcohol to a customer who may be driving, and will first confirm whether the customer has a designated driver.

But have Japanese people truly stopped drunk driving? According to official statistics from Japan's National Police Agency, in 2015 (Heisei 27) there were 565 cases of driving under the influence, 26,099 cases of breath alcohol levels exceeding 0.15 mg/L, 104 cases of vehicle provision offenses, 48 cases of alcohol provision offenses, 696 cases of passenger offenses, and 201 drunk driving fatalities. While this represents a significant improvement over 20 years ago, 26,000 drunk driving cases per year means the ultimate goal of "zero drunk driving" still requires continued effort.

What About Taiwan?

Taiwan's Minister of Transportation and Communications Ho Chen-tan recently stated in the Legislative Yuan that "Taiwan's crackdown on drunk driving is already among the strictest in the world, and has reached the limits of what can be achieved in terms of enforcement, penalties, and the speed of judicial proceedings." Under current Article 185-3 of the Criminal Code, a drunk driver whose breath alcohol level reaches 0.25 mg/L, or who is unable to drive safely, may be sentenced to up to 2 years imprisonment and fined up to NTD 200,000. Causing death carries a sentence of 3 to 10 years imprisonment; causing serious injury carries 1 to 7 years imprisonment.

Article 35 of Taiwan's Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act stipulates that a driver whose breath alcohol concentration exceeds the legal limit shall be fined between NTD 15,000 and NTD 60,000, have their vehicle impounded on the spot, and have their license suspended for one year. If the offense results in bodily injury to another person, the license suspension is extended to two years; if it results in serious injury or death, the license is revoked with no possibility of re-application.

In early April of this year, the Legislative Yuan passed a preliminary reading to increase penalties for drunk driving violations. The minimum fine was raised from NTD 15,000 to NTD 30,000, with repeat offenders within 5 years subject to an additional NTD 90,000 penalty for each subsequent offense (with no upper limit). Refusing a breathalyzer test now carries a doubled penalty of NTD 180,000, with the same cumulative surcharge of NTD 180,000 per offense for repeat offenders. The prison sentence for drunk driving was not further increased, and no criminal liability has been established for those who provide alcohol to a drunk driver, provide them with a vehicle, or ride as passengers.