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Tokyo, July 15 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s transport ministry plans to strengthen administrative penalties on logistics companies whose truck drivers were found drunk at the wheel.
The ministry is currently collecting public comments about the tougher penalties, which are slated to be introduced in January 2025.
The planned measures are part of a policy package the government drew up in June last year to address the so-called 2024 problem in the logistics industry, or truck driver shortages stemming from a new overtime regulation put into place in April this year for such drivers and subsequent disruptions in cargo transport operations.
The annual number of traffic accidents caused by drunken truck drivers has been leveling off above 30 and below 50 since 2012 after steadily continuing to decline.
This trend prompted the ministry to strengthen penalties under the trucking business law in an effort to clamp down on drunken driving.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
Jiji Press
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