An 18-year-old boy was arrested Sunday for "dangerous driving resulting in death" -- the first application of a new, stricter driving penalty, police said.
The teenager, who was drunk when he hit Tsuneo Hiramatsu, 87, with his sedan at 7:10 a.m. in Handa, Aichi Prefecture, also failed to rescue the man, who died of traumatic shock as a result, police said. The driver is also suspected of committing a hit-and-run.
To crack down on drivers who cause fatal accidents through drunkenness or other dangerous driving practices, authorities strengthened the driving penalties in the criminal code on Dec. 25.
Drivers found guilty under the new stipulation must serve a year or more in prison, which is harsher than the penalty for professional negligence resulting in death, which offers imprisonment of five years or less, or a fine of 500,000 yen or less.
Investigators said the boy called 110 after pulling off about 600 meters from the site of the accident. His blood-alcohol level was found to be 0.2 mg per liter of exhaled air.
He was quoted by police as saying he had drunk eight glasses of "chuhai," a popular carbonated beverage that mixes fruit-flavored soda with traditional "shochu" distilled spirits, and had run away from the scene of the accident in panic.
The accident took place on an open, straight road where Hiramatsu was walking across a pedestrian crossing, police said.