Police have arrested the 54-year-old driver of a station wagon that went through a red light and collided with a small car, killing an elderly woman, her brother and seriously injuring the brother's wife.
According to police, the crash occurred at around 1 p.m. Thursday at an intersection in Kita-Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Fuji TV reported. There are traffic lights at the intersection. However, the driver of the station wagon, part-time worker Kumiko Okuchi, was quoted by police as saying she didn't notice that the light was red because she was checking a bag in the back seat. She has been charged with dangerous driving resulting in death.
Police said that Teruko Mizuno, 80, and her brother Hideo, 75, were killed in the crash, while Hideo's wife Kazuko, 70, remains in a coma.
© Japan Today
7 Comments
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Confusius
Does anyone know of another report that specifies what exactly is meant by checking a bag in the back seat? Maybe it's because I'm too tired to get it or because what that woman did is just too stupid for me to comprehend...
FightingViking
In other words : There's NO age for stupidity...
Disillusioned
Another multi-tasking Japanese driver killing people. This reckless and careless inattentiveness is a terribly dangerous part of Japanese driver culture that I see everyday! Today I saw a garbage truck driver with a clipboard on the steering wheel completing his paperwork while driving along a major route at speed. Last week I had some goon swerve across the yellow line into my lane while he was staring at his phone in his lap. I narrowly avoided a major head-on collision. The police really have to clamp down on multi-tasking drivers, but I'm not holding my breath waiting for it to happen.
zones2surf
Just a tragic accident that serves as another reminder of the need to always be focused on driving... when driving. No texting, no watching TV on the navi, and definitely no checking on the bags in the back seat.
What a horrible tragedy for the victims and their family right before the New Years holidays
khulifi
Put her in jail for the rest of her life ..... and let her pay the compensation
sensei258
You are checking a bag in the back seat as you approach an intersection? More likely she was texting or doing some other unnecessary task on her smafo
yankinhokkaido
Riiiight. It only happens in Japan. Never in any other countries.