Claiming that it is strange that the crime of causing death by dangerous driving does not apply even if a traffic accident occurs by driving at a speed significantly exceeding the legal speed, the bereaved families of traffic accidents formed a victims' association and submitted a request to the Public Prosecutor's Office on February 2 requesting a review of the application of the law regarding the accident that occurred in Utsunomiya City in February.
The request was submitted to the Utsunomiya District Public Prosecutor's Office by the Association of Victims of High-Speed Runaway and Dangerous Driving.
In July, seven bereaved family members from Utsunomiya City and Oita City, who lost their families in accidents caused by cars traveling at speeds exceeding the legal speed, formed a group to jointly call for a review of the operation of the law.
According to the petition, regarding the accident in which Kazumasa Sasaki (then 7), who was riding a motorcycle on a national highway in Utsunomiya City, was killed by a car coming from behind in February, it was strange that the 7-year-old defendant who was driving the car was charged with manslaughter by negligent driving even though he was speeding over 2 km / h. They are calling for a heavier sentence of manslaughter by dangerous driving.
Taeko, the co-leader of the association and the wife of Sasaki, who died in the accident, said at a press conference, "We submitted a request as a victims' association with the hope that our voices would be taken seriously.
The victims' association stated that "there are a number of cases where dangerous driving does not apply even if you drive at abnormal high speeds" and will continue to carry out signature activities to confront the "legal barrier".