A court on Friday sentenced a 26-year-old man to 18 years in prison for a highway road rage incident last year in which a couple died and their two teenage daughters were injured.

Kazuho Ishibashi was convicted of dangerous driving resulting in death and injury after he overtook the family's vehicle on the Tomei Expressway in Kanagawa Prefecture on June 5, 2017, and forced it to stop in the passing lane where they were hit from behind by a truck.

Prosecutors had demanded a 23-year prison term while the defendant had pleaded not guilty in the trial at the Yokohama District Court.