A man who caused the deaths of a couple in a fatal case of road rage in 2017 that triggered tougher regulations against dangerous driving had his 18-year prison sentence upheld by the Tokyo High Court on Monday.
The court found Kazuho Ishibashi, 32, guilty of causing the deaths of Yoshihisa Hagiyama, 45, and his wife, Yuka, 39, as well as injuring their two daughters due to his dangerous driving on the Tomei Expressway in Kanagawa Prefecture in 2017.
The court was hearing an appeal filed by Ishibashi over the Yokohama District Court's 2022 ruling that found him guilty.
Presiding Judge Akira Ando ruled that there was a causal relationship between Ishibashi’s driving and the fatal crash that followed, upholding the Yokohama District Court’s findings and 18-year prison term.
While listening to the ruling on Monday, Ishibashi occasionally tilted his head and told the judges to “wait until I’m out (of prison)” before leaving the courtroom. He had pleaded not guilty.
According to the court ruling, Ishibashi had deliberately slowed down his vehicle in front of Hagiyama’s car on the expressway, forcing Hagiyama's wife, who was driving, to stop the car, which was then rear-ended by a truck.
According to prosecutors, Ishibashi committed the act in a fit of road rage after being told off by Hagiyama about the way he parked his car at an expressway rest area just before the incident.
Ishibashi was initially handed an 18-year prison sentence by the Yokohama District Court that convicted him in December 2018. But in December 2019, the Tokyo High Court quashed the lower court ruling over a failure in legal proceedings and sent the case back to the district court for a retrial.
The Yokohama District Court found Ishibashi guilty again in June 2022 and handed down the same sentence. The Tokyo High Court upheld the sentence on Monday.
The 2017 incident put a spotlight on dangerous driving and prompted the government to implement a revision of the traffic law in 2020 that toughened punishments for road rage offenses.
Under the stricter traffic law, drivers who cause serious traffic accidents from acts such as suddenly braking or tailgating with the intention of harassing other drivers can be punished with up to five years in prison.
Drivers have since been strongly encouraged by the National Police Agency to install dashboard cameras to deter such incidents.
Reported cases of tailgating have gone down since the 2017 case and the implementation of stricter regulations. While there were 11,523 cases of illegal tailgating reported in 2020, that number fell to 5,213 in 2022.
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