Archiveless Gomiuri Shimbun
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office has demanded 49 bike gang members who were apprehended for reckless driving on the Metropolitan Expressway in early November pay fines between 300,000 yen and 500,000 yen each--totaling 15.9 million yen--it was learned Tuesday.
Prosecutors have indicted the 49 at the Tokyo Summary Court, and six former gang members, including Nobuhiro Takado, a 32-year-old construction worker of Ryugasaki, Ibaraki Prefecture, at the Tokyo District Court, for violations of the Road Traffic Law.
The indictments came after a revision to the law took effect on Nov. 1, enabling police to crack down on reckless driving more easily. As the prosecutors are considering indicting several more people, the total amount of the fines is expected to exceed 20 million yen. "We'd like to let people know that reckless driving costs a lot," one of the prosecutors said.
According to the prosecutors' office, more than 130 gang members, including the suspects, gathered at about 1 a.m. on Nov. 7. Riding 72 motorcycles and driving 15 cars, they zigzagged across the road, drove very slowly and committed other acts of reckless driving.
The Metropolitan Police Department's traffic investigation division immediately arrested 71 people aged between 16 and 37.
Under the revised law, police officers are allowed to arrest dangerous drivers on the spot even if they cannot specify the victims of such driving. This is the first case in Tokyo in which the new rule was adopted.
Also under the law, those involved in dangerous driving as passengers can be punished with imprisonment of up to two years or a fine of up to 500,000 yen.
Statistics compiled by the MPD show that the number of bike gangs hit its peak in 1974, with 25,893 people in 817 groups identified as bike gang members nationwide. At that time, dangerous driving acts in groups of more than 100 people were common. But since the traffic law was revised in December 1978 to include a provision that prohibits reckless driving in groups, such acts have become less common.
Last year, police identified 1,264 gangs with 21,184 members nationwide.
In Tokyo, the number of such gangs has dropped from its peak in 1974 of 241 groups and 8,806 members, to 18 groups and 148 members as of October.
