Police in Tokyo have arrested a 50-year-old man on suspicion of dangerous driving resulting in death after he hit a 43-year-old woman and her six-year-old daughter while test-driving a car on Tuesday.
The incident occurred at around 5 p.m. in Suginami Ward, Kyodo News reported. Police said the driver, Kota Urushibara, was backing a Jaguar out of a car maintenance facility when he hit the woman, Chiro Sugimoto, and her daughter Nagi, as they were walking by.
Police said the woman and her daughter were confirmed dead at the scene.
According to police, Urushibara is a mechanic and said he was test driving the vehicle after completing maintenance work.
© Japan Today
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nonu6976
Sounds like neither party was aware of the other. If he was backing out, he's unlikely to be have traveling even remotely quickly, yet both are dead - a little unusual I think,
3RENSHO
If it is true that the 50-year-old mechanic was "test driving the vehicle", then why was he backing up with the driver's door opened? (Video reports by several television reporters at the scene clearly showed damage to the driver's door contingent with it being forced open and backward beyond operational limits.) The vehicle in question, an 1980s era Jaguar XJR sedan in BRG British Racing Green livery, is well-known for spending inordinate repair time in the shop...therefore not at all unusual to be backing out of the repair garage; this Jag XRJ was probably one of their best customers! But looking at the larger picture...How can this accident be prevented in future?
Sam Watters
The driver must have ran completely over the mother or child or been traveling at a very high rate of speed. Either way, terrible way to die…
kohakuebisu
The guy pulled out in reverse with enough speed for the car to deeply mount the pavement/sidewalk on the opposite side of the road. This is clear driver error. As a reason why a car would reverse at crazy speed, maybe it was a manual and the guy over-revved it with no idea where the bite point of the clutch was.
It's an old Jag with the steering wheel on the wrong side, so imported from Europe or the States, not the UK.
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/16918671faded2c667f3ddcd53bc1ed556687569
yokohamarides
Other media is reporting the driver mistook the gas pedal for the brake. The car went clear across the street and hit the mother and daughter on the opposite sidewalk. Cars are deadly.
3RENSHO
Media have reported the vehicle was equipped with an automatic transmission. Speed of vehicle (moving in reverse gear) was greater than 20 kilometres per hour. 2 pedestrians were on the near side, or same side of the road as the automobile repair shop ヴィットリオ(Vittorio) 高井戸東4丁目1-4, 杉並区, 東京都 〒168-0072
Mizuame
Automatic transmission Jaguars of that era connect their gear stick to the transmission via a steel cable which if stretched too far or drawn too tight, will align the transmission with the adjacent position to the P-R-N-D letter on display. This is a difficult adjustment that needs to be monitored very carefully. If the cable had been tightened a tad too much and the tech selected N and revved the engine moderately the car would shoot backwards in the way that has been reported in this accident.
Alongfortheride
Just XJ not XJR
AgeOfAsparagas
@Muzuame
You are the Sherlock Holmes of car accidents. No joke. That's important info that the police should know.
Newgirlintown
Tragic.