Alcohol impaired driving is one of the major threats to traffic safety and is also a major cause of fatalities. Therefore, the Japanese government has initiated various strategies to solve this problem. Among them the introduction of deterrence theory based drunk driving laws has been the principal approach. Drunk driving laws seek to deter alcohol impaired driving by improving the factors of certainty, severity and celerity of punishment. In 1970, a number of countermeasures were implemented in Japan to control the high percentage of serious-casualty motor vehicle accidents involving alcohol. These countermeasures included a number of legislative measures such as the introduction of lower legal limit (0.05 mg%) random breath testing and the imposition of relatively severe penalties .05 mg%. Of concern in this short paper is whether the Japan 1970 drink driving countermeasures have had an impact on fatalities related to alcohol impaired driving and if so, whether the effects have lasted permanently or temporarily. In particular, this paper examines changes in the per-capita alcohol consumption in relation to traffic fatalities. Finally, it explores the effects of legislation on community driving while impaired behavior (DWI). (A)
Abstract