Chiba Prefectural Police investigators are seen examining the site of an accident in which a truck hit local elementary schoolchildren, in the city of Yachimata, Chiba Prefecture, on June 28, 2021. (Mainichi/Masahiro Ogawa)

       YACHIMATA, Chiba -- A truck that drove into five elementary schoolchildren in this east Japan city, killing two of them and injuring three, had private vehicle license plates, not business ones, meaning the driver's employer was not legally required to conduct alcohol tests.

       Hiroshi Umezawa, the 60-year-old driver arrested in connection with the fatal collision, was found with an alcohol level over the legal limit. He was arrested at the scene of the accident on suspicion of violating the Act on Punishment of Acts Inflicting Death or Injury on Others by Driving a Motor Vehicle, etc.

       Had Umezawa been driving a business-use vehicle with green plates authorized by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, his employer would have been required to administer alcohol tests.

       Private white-plate vehicles used in activities including carrying a company's own products fall outside the jurisdiction of the transport ministry. But if a business retains five or more white-plate vehicles, it is required by the Road Traffic Act to have a driving safety supervisor among its staff who will instruct drivers on safe practices. The safety supervisor receives training once a year, and must confirm if a driver is in a state unfit for normal vehicle operations, including when they have been drinking alcohol, are fatigued or are sick, though actual alcohol tests are not required, and there are no associated punishments.

       The president of the parent company of Umezawa's employer told reporters on June 28, "We did not do alcohol tests every day."

       In contrast, employers operating green-number vehicles are legally required to conduct alcohol tests on drivers before they set off for work and after they return from work. This requirement came into effect following revisions to a ministerial order based on the Motor Truck Transportation Business Act in May 2011.

       At a June 29 news conference, Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Kazuyoshi Akaba said, "I want to take necessary steps toward ending drink driving and ensuring a terrible incident like this never happens again by working together with the National Police Agency, which has jurisdiction over the Road Traffic Act."

       (Japanese original by Kunihiro Iwasaki, Tokyo City News Department)

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