A planned amendment to the law on road traffic would enable the police to revoke a driver's license over acts of road rage, which would be defined as dangerous driving with the intention of obstructing another driver's safe passage, through such acts as tailgating, repeatedly swerving between lanes or cutting in front of the other vehicle. While the dangers of such acts have been highlighted by some high-profile cases over the past few years, there has so far been no legal provision to penalize the act of road rage itself.
Creating a new offense and penalties against road rage alone will not immediately stop such dangerous acts. In a recent National Police Agency survey, 1 out of 3 drivers said they have been the target of dangerous driving, such as tailgating, over the past year. The amendment should promote broader efforts to raise awareness of the dangers of reckless driving — that road rage puts the lives of others on the road at risk, and that drivers will be severely punished for such acts — and deter hazardous driving on public roads.
Public concern over road rage was fueled by an incident in June 2017 on the Tomei Expressway, in which a motorist forced a van to stop in a passing lane, and a large truck hit the van, killing the husband and wife in the van and injuring their two daughters. In July last year, a university student riding his motorcycle was persistently tailgated by a man in a car on a road in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, until he was struck by the car and killed.