Two truck drivers were killed Friday in an accident involving three vehicles in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture.
According to police, the accident occurred at around 3 a.m. on the expressway. TBS quoted police as saying that a semi-trailer was rear-ended by a large truck which in turn was hit from behind by a third truck.
The 43-year-old driver of the truck that rear-ended the trailer and the 42-year-old driver of the third truck were killed, police said.
Police said the expressway was closed for about 6 1/2 hours due to the accident.
© Japan Today
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akihase
It had to be another truck driver... truck drivers in Japan are really aggressive and at times violent. They need to reeducated.
FightingViking
In view of the "time of night/day" it could very well have been caused by sleepiness... If the second driver dozed off, the third one may not have realized what was going on until it was too late. I agree that most truck drivers are very aggressive in general but sometimes extenuating circumstances do exist. Very unfortunate for those killed.
nath
I find Japanese truck drivers much nicer than ones I encountered in the USA! I drive 100 kms a day on the highway three days as well. I hardly ever have trouble
Jack Stern
Too bad but keeping a safe distance especially at night may have saved them with possibly minor injuries.
Balefire
It does sound as if one or more of the drivers were dozing off, but that's only speculation based on experience.
I'd be willing to bet that tailgating was involved; it's endemic here, and particularly dangerous when engaged in by drivers of trucks, which can naturally take a long time to stop.
Particularly late at night on relatively poorly lit sections of road, there's a tendency I've seen for decades for drivers to follow more closely than they should in an effort to see what's further ahead, using the area illuminated by the vehicle in front of them. It's a dangerous practice, of course, but one that I've had numerous truckers--and other drivers--tell me that they do it pretty much sub-consciously. Possibly something like that was involved here.
Given the time and place, I'd also guess that none of the drivers were as alert as they should have been. All the more reason for putting more distance between vehicles.
Disillusioned
Bwaaahahahah! If anybody has ever driven from Tokyo to Osaka they know the gamble they take with these truck drivers. It's a bloody disgrace the way these hoons race along the Tome highway. They travel in groups of a dozen or so and juggle for poll positions at 120-140 kph. I'm very surprised these kinds of accidents don't happen more often. I feel sorry for the families, but the highway truck drivers in Japan are just arrogant cowboys with little regard for safety of other drivers on the roads.
nath
The very same goes on here with truck drivers in Okinawa. It's even worse if you drive a Kei car. They will mow you down!