1 dead, 10 injured in expressway tunnel pileups in Shizuoka; truck driver arrested

According to the police, the driver told them that he caused the accident as he was looking at his smartphone while driving"

J cops here really need to get off their bcksides and start cracking down on the smartphone usage by drivers. I swear i see it multiple times everyday driving here. Back home the fines are severe and the cops really watch out for it. Here i have seen people using phones while driving in front of kobans with cops outside...its just insane.

Yep! More than half the drivers I see are juggling their smart phones as they drive. The penalty is ¥50,000 and 3 points, but only if you get caught, which seems to be the problem. Nobody gets caught, so nobody gives a damn.

I can't get my head around having an actual TV screen in the car. ???

@Albaleo - Japan does pretty well in the traffic fatalities statistics. 

I beg to differ because those statistics are based on per capita, not per vehicle. Half of Japanese adults don't drive, which makes these statistics false

A woman "Sumiko Tominaga, 51," on a motorcycle was killed and 10 people were injured

Just read about the other truck driver case

Yet another "truckinstien"

Must keep an eye out on all trucks in the vicinity when on all those narrow roads.

One of the problems is that the police here only crack down on something during a campaign, be it illegal parking, speeding or whatever

They don't seem to generally police and look out for offences as they happen.

Another reason why I don't respect the Japanese police force.

I do a lot of riding in the mountains and of course use expressways to get there. I have had people get pissed at me for gesturing for them to get off their cellphone ..... while traveling over 100km!!! Total idiots!

Maybe the severity of fines is not the only factor.

The problem is not the severity of fines but the actual enforcement ...or lack of thereof.

Japanese drivers are not the best. I am amazed that most seem to have no concept of right-of-way or basic traffic laws, despite attending these ridiculous driving schools and getting lectures every time they renew their license. And truck drivers are sometimes criminally aggressive.

Looked out of the bus window today, and saw a driver looking down and occupied with at his phone, texting away in busy traffic, one leg folded back under his body, relaxing in the seat. That's not in control of a car! Right in front of the police station too.

Driving back from Hiroshima last weekend, a young girl behind my car was clearly on her phone, swerving all over the road without a care for anyone else. Cops drove right past her, looking clearly at her, and did nothing!

And I regularly see truckers holding phones whilst driving.

And I think road users, who do not use their lights in tunnels, should be fined heavily. With the poor lighting standards of many tunnels here, it's surprising there are not more accidents.

RIP to the victims.

Back home the fines are severe 

I'm not sure where "back home" is, but Japan does pretty well in the traffic fatalities statistics. Maybe the severity of fines is not the only factor.