The Culture of Drunk Driving
Drunk driving has long been a problem in Japan. Of course, if you picked up a Japanese newspaper or turned on the news, you’d think it was some new development. Why the sudden focus on drunk driving? The Japan Times gives us a clue:
On Aug. 26, a 22-year-old man driving over a bridge in Fukuoka rear-ended an SUV containing a family of five. The collision pushed the SUV through a railing, and the vehicle plunged into Hakata Bay. The two parents survived with minor injuries, but their three children, aged 4, 3 and 1, died.
The police determined that the man who caused the accident was drunk at the time, thus inflating an accident into a heinous crime. Had there not been children in the car, the incident would not have received as much attention, but because three innocent lives were lost and the parents’ heroic attempts to save them were in vain, the coverage was extremely dramatic. The media are now on a crusade against driving under the influence (DUI). Every day since the Fukuoka accident, the press has reported at least one — but usually two or three — drunk driving accidents, whereas previously they reported very few.
This seems to be the case with the Mainichi Shinbun, which has these headlines on the main page of its English Edition:
Okayama police sergeant fired for driving to work drunk
Man on the run for 17 years gets suspended sentence for drunk driving
Local education chief booked for drunk driving
What can we do to stop this drunk driving problem? Well, we can make cars with built in breathalizers. Yeah, that seems like the best solution. Screw better law enforcement and stiffer penalties!
Update: Crisscross reports the following:
Police departments across Japan uncovered a total of 4,383 drunk-driving cases and arrested 149 drivers during a weeklong crackdown through last Monday, the National Police Agency said in a report released Thursday.
Whew, it’s a good thing the crackdown is over(and what a high rate of arrests as well!). Now everyone can forget about drunk driving and the police can get back to sitting in their kobans and doing nothing! Problem solved!
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After 8 years in Japan, it’s still a mystery to me– what exactly do the police here do every day besides hang out at the Koban?
Err, so nearly 97% just got cautioned or fined? Or let off? What do you have to do to get arrested?
Back in the UK I was under the impression that setting the breathalyser off was instant arrest and you got carted off to the police station for a blood test.
Apparently the most common punishment is a fine. I doubt they’ll be making things as strict as they are in America or the UK, as it will cause massive losses for all the bars and izakaya that rely on customers who come by car. Also, now that the crackdown is over, nobody will discuss drunk driving until the next horrific accident that kills a bunch of children(which could be years away).