Aug. 25 marked the third anniversary of a tragic traffic accident in the city of Fukuoka that caught nationwide attention. On that night in 2006, a car driven by a drunken Fukuoka city government worker rear-ended a sports utility vehicle carrying a family of five — a couple and their three children — on a bridge, causing the SUV to plunge into Hakata Bay. All three children were killed.
On the very day of the anniversary, a police sergeant of the Kokura Minami police station in the city of Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, was arrested in connection with a hit-and-run accident. A blood test detected 1.27 milligrams of alcohol per milliliter of blood — more than four times the threshold of 0.3 mg. It is especially regrettable that this incident involved a police officer who is empowered to arrest drunken drivers and is supposed to be a role model for obeying the law.
In 2008, there were 4,295 death-causing traffic accidents involving sober drivers against 305 such accidents involving drunken drivers. Still, it must be remembered that if one drives under the influence of alcohol, he or she is much more likely to cause a traffic accident than a sober driver. This is a plain truth. In this sense, drinking before driving is very irresponsible.