Overview
- The Diet voted Thursday, June 25 to amend the dangerous-driving law to add explicit numeric criteria for high-penalty cases.
- The law makes excess speed a trigger when a driver exceeds the posted limit by 50 km/h on roads with limits of 60 km/h or less, and by 60 km/h on higher-speed roads.
- Drunk-driving exposure is now defined at a breath-alcohol level of 0.5 milligrams per liter, and the Road Traffic Law was revised to use the same 0.5 mg/L cutoff.
- The amendment keeps a qualitative safety test so prosecutors can charge dangerous driving below the numeric lines when circumstances make a crash especially hazardous, and the Justice Ministry said prosecutors may treat speeds up to about 10 km/h below the cutoffs as qualifying in aggravating conditions.
- The laws will be promulgated within days and take effect under statutory timing, and a separate rule due in September that cuts maximum speeds on residential 'living streets' to 30 km/h will lower the absolute speeds at which the numeric excess thresholds apply.