Overview
- Police arrested 62-year-old Koichi Hishiyama on Monday on suspicion of dangerous driving causing death after a crash in Koto Ward that killed a woman in her 80s.
- Officers said Hishiyama’s breath test registered 0.56 mg per liter, above the revised law’s 0.5 mg/L threshold that defines a state in which normal driving is difficult.
- According to the police account the collision happened about 4:30 a.m. on July 26 at an intersection where the pedestrian had a green signal and the driver ran a red light while travelling about 57 km/h.
- Two other early-morning Tokyo incidents that same night produced breath readings above the new limit and led police to arrest two additional drivers on dangerous-driving injury charges.
- The July 21 amendment adds numeric limits for alcohol and speed and the use of on-scene breath readings in this case could influence how prosecutors and courts apply dangerous-driving charges going forward.