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Police in Tokyo on Friday night searched the head office of Hato Bus Co after a fatal crash in which a sightseeing bus rear-ended a limousine, killing the driver, a man in his 50s.
According to police, the incident occurred at around 6:35 p.m. Wednesday near the Tokyo metropolitan government building in Shinjuku Ward. The limousine was stopped at a red light when it was hit by the bus. The bus continued over a divider to the far side of the road before smashing into the pole, Kyodo News reported.
The bus was on a tour of Tokyo and had dropped off its passengers at a sushi restaurant just prior to the accident, Kyodo reported. The 37-year-old bus driver, Soichi Mori, was arrested on suspicion of reckless driving resulting in death.
Police said they searched the head office to gather information on the working hours of Hato’s bus drivers and said the company may also face a charge of reckless driving resulting in death.
© Japan Today/Kyodo
9 Comments
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nandakandamanda
Apparently the police then sent the driver straight to hospital as he was suffering from influenza and had a high temperature. The drive recorder is said to have shown his head swaying moments before the crash. Another example of workers feeling unable to take off sick?
Jonathan Prin
Victim had buckled his seat belt ?
3RENSHO
The bus driver is claiming that he took anti-influenza medicine at 06:20am before the accident. However, the crash shows evidence of damage resulting from high speed: was the driver distracted by a cellphone moments before impact? He could be using his cold symptoms to save himself from incarceration....
rgcivilian1
Why was this driver even at work? If one is sick it is best for the company and personal health that the sick person stay home and not be a hero. All this does is spread the influenza. Now by contaminating the passengers ( re Article: "The bus was on a tour of Tokyo and had dropped off its passengers at a sushi restaurant just prior to the accident")
In addition, too many hero's that like to blast sneeze out their germs in public instead of wearing a mask.
Ex_Res
He could be using his cold symptoms to save himself from incarceration....
I hope he is not incarcerated before an investigation is completed. A least give him time to recover.
cleo
I don't know if it's the case in this instance, but I do know from personal experience that a bad attack of the flu can literally do your head in: you stop thinking straight and get quite obsessive about stuff, like thinking it's essential to get to work when in fact you should be in bed. The idea that you might infect other people, that you shouldn't be doing what you're trying to do, simply does not enter your head. And when people advise you that you really should take a pill and go to bed, they just 'don't understand'.
The flu is not just a cold, it's a totally different creature.
I would say it's the responsibility of the bus company to make sure their drivers are fit to drive before sending them out on the roads.
MSR Japan
The story reads the car was stopped at a red light, what was the limo driver doing at the trunk in that case ?
If you are ill, sick , have a flu or simillar stay home dont go to work coughing sneezing and spreading it , seen woman working at the checkout at supermarkets, coughing n sneezing all over everyone and their food while swiping it through the bar code reader at the counter, unbelievable, I simply just left my stuff there and walked off not buying that from there. D I S G U S T I N G .