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Two high school students, aged 17 and 18, were killed, while another 17-year-old student and an 18-year-old were injured after the car they were in went off a highway and dropped two meters into a rice field in Ogaki, Gifu Prefecture, on Sunday morning.
According to police, the accident occurred at around 4:50 a.m. along National Route 417, Sankei Shimbun reported. The four occupants were on their way home to Ginan city after being out for the night, police said.
Police said the accident occurred on a right curve on the road. The car crashed through a guardrail and plunged into the rice field. An 18-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy sitting in the back seat suffered head and chest injuries and died later in hospital.
The 18-year-old male driver, a construction industry worker, and a 17-year-old high school girl sitting in the front passenger seat sustained serious injuries, police said.
© Japan Today
15 Comments
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kohakuebisu
Bungle’s right, this happened on a regular road where the car went straight over one of those high kerbs, crossed a bit of pavement and then through a pedestrian (not car) railing before a nasty-looking vertical drop into the paddy.
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20210221/k10012878911000.html
It was a kei, but it was the rear passengers who died and in a front collision, suggesting that seatbelts may well have saved them.
Mr Kipling
4:50 AM? I wonder if alcohol was a factor.
3RENSHO
The accident occurred on a right-hand curve of Route 417, seen in the link below. Due to the commercial business on the left, there is no concrete barrier to prevent a vehicle from departing from the traffic lane.
https://www.google.co.jp/maps/place/%E3%83%A1%E3%83%B3%E3%82%BA%EF%BC%86%E3%83%AC%E3%83%87%E3%82%A3%E3%82%B9%E3%81%93%E3%82%93%E3%81%A9%E3%81%86/@35.3902095,136.5963559,3a,90y,90.12h,91.92t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s-4S-vCpaFslCRSeD9Z3dig!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!4m5!3m4!1s0x6003b381310816ff:0x46b7bb07aa94d22b!8m2!3d35.3904176!4d136.5964833?hl=en
Goodlucktoyou
I wake up everyday thinking this could be the last. People are confused why I’m always happy with no job or money. But who cares, just survive today.
Patricia Yarrow
No seatbelts?
Mirchy
Sad news.
The use of a seat belt on all seats should be mandatory.
At the momentary stop at high speeds, things begin to happen that are incomprehensible to us. RIP.
ebisen
Japan has severe lack of education issues on how to safely ride in a car. Wear your seatbelts, people! These would have most certainly be saved by them :(.
Thomas Tank
Speed?
Realization
Too young to go out at around 4:50 a.m.
"An 18-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy sitting in the back seat?
The 18-year-old male driver, a construction industry worker, and a 17-year-old high school girl sitting in the front passenger seat.
According to police, the accident occurred at around 4:50 a.m.
The four occupants were on their way home to Ginan city after being out for the night?"
Sven Asai
What are you talking about? Kei and high speed? That doesn’t fit. Japan and high speed? That doesn’t fit also. Where I come from, there are no such vulnerable toy cars like Kei, all passengers wear seatbelts, also in the back, and speaking of high speed starts very much over 130 km/h at about 160 or 180. For example, the recommended speed for highways is officially 130, but you are a very slow obstacle, if you abide to that. That causes accidents, not the higher speed itself. In this case here, adults would probably take also such a small road at about 60 , while young people at night usually give it a 70 to 90 or so , if not limited by traffic signs and strict camera surveillance with high penalties at dangerous road parts , curves and such.
DudeDeuce
It is now I believe. I remember back in the days trying to put my seatbelt on in the backseat of different peoples' cars and them laughing at me for doing so.
nandakandamanda
Just for people who may have missed it:
The law stipulates that all passengers, including those in rear seats should fasten seat belts. The Road Traffic Law was revised on June 1, 2008 and it is now mandatory for passengers in rear seats to fasten seat belts. Drivers and all passengers are now required to fasten seat belts！
http://www.pref.kyoto.jp/fukei/foreign/koki_k_t/seatbelt/index.html#:~:text=The%20law%20stipulates%20that%20all,required%20to%20fasten%20seat%20belts%EF%BC%81