A driver in Chiayi has been sentenced to six and a half years in prison for killing an elderly motorcyclist while drunk and high, then fleeing the scene — a case that shows how harshly Taiwan's citizen-judge courts are treating drunk and drugged driving.

• The driver took drug-laced coffee packets, drank all night, then drove home at dawn and hit a motorcyclist from behind on the Alishan Highway.
• The rider, a man in his 70s, died of massive injuries; the driver did not stop, call police, or check on him.
• Police tracked him down through surveillance footage, and tests came back positive for alcohol plus MDMA, ketamine, and a third-class sedative.
• The court noted the rider had changed lanes without signaling, but weighed against the driver the mix of drink and drugs, the hit-and-run, a follow-on crash it caused, and his refusal to settle with the family.

Outlook: Both sides can still appeal, but citizen-judge panels have been handing down heavier sentences in fatal impaired-driving cases.