Take our user survey and make your voice heard.
A 57-year-old man who was arrested for dangerous driving resulting in the deaths of four people went on trial in Tsu, Mie Prefecture, on Tuesday.
In the opening session of the lay judge trial, the court heard that Masahiro Suehiro, a former president of a software company, was driving at 146 kilometers per hour on a road where the speed limit was 60 kph in Tsu on Dec 29, 2018, when his car crashed into the side of a taxi with four passengers. The taxi had just come out of the parking lot of a roadside restaurant.
The taxi driver and three passengers were killed, while the fourth passenger and Suehiro were seriously injured in the accident. Suehiro was arrested on May 28, 2019 on suspicion of dangerous driving resulting in death and injury, Kyodo News reported.
Suehiro's lawyer told the court that his client admitted to causing the accident but maintained he did not know how fast his car was going at the time.
© Japan Today/Kyodo
14 Comments
Login to comment
timeon
if he was doing 65 kph I would believe him; there is no way not to know you are speeding like hell when doing 146 kph on a normal road. His defense will probably be somewhere in the lines that the taxi bears some responsibility for pulling out from a parking restaurant, but I hope he does some jail time
3RENSHO
"But all too often taxi drivers drive recklessly without regard for others safety."
Non sequitur; the taxi was not traveling at 146 kilometres per hour. There is no evidence to indicate "the taxi driver pulled out carelessly."
Mocheake
You were going fast enough to kill four people. No doubt you knew that. Take (real) full responsibility and a prison cell for 30 years. Maybe that'll be enough time for you to figure out how fast you were going.
smithinjapan
Let's say for some reason that he did not know he was going more than twice the speed limit, which is utter BS... he still was, and he still hit and killed people. That he claims not to know the speed means nothing, since that's the speed he was going.
Paul
He can't tell the difference between 60 and 146 kmh????
Unbelievable!!!!
borscht
Bjorn,
Victim blaming is never a good look for an intelligent human.
kurisupisu
The majority of drivers in Japan regularly exceed the speed limits as they are far too low.
However, in this case the driver’s speed was obviously reckless.
Hopefully, a prison sentence will act as a deterrent .
aomorisamurai
"Suehiro's lawyer told the court that his client admitted to causing the accident but maintained he did not know how fast his car was going at the time."
Quick Google search puts 146 kph as 90 mph, or 2.5x the posted speed limit. It's going to be tough selling the idea he had no idea how fast he was going.
Hope the judges keep in mind 4 people lost their lives over this guy's reckless driving.
Vince Black
He didn’t know how fast he was going?
Scumbag coward.
Going fast enough to kill four people maybe?
Hang this Wretch.
james
In JAPAN you are considered a professional driver if you have a Japanese license. The driving schools are brutally long and very expensive. FOR THIS REASON, you are classified as a professional driver and responsible for your car and any accidents that may occur in the future.
Bjorn Tomention
Even if he was speeding the taxi driver pulled out carelessly and he had the care and duty of his customers as a responsibility so should also be sharing some blame, in this case he died.
But all too often taxi drivers drive recklessly without regard for others safety.
However this idiot former software company president needs to feel the full weight of his stupidity.