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A 77-year-old man and his 70-year-old wife were killed in a head-on collision on the Chubu Odan Expressway in Saku, Nagano Prefecture, on Saturday.
According to police, the couple were traveling in a light car when it crashed into an oncoming car in the opposite lane at around 7 a.m., Sankei Shimbun reported.
The couple were taken to hospital with extensive injuries and were pronounced dead on arrival. The 32-year-old man driving the other car sustained minor injuries, police said.
The accident occurred on a slight curve. Police believe one of the cars drifted over the center line.
After the accident, traffic on the expressway was delayed for about 3 ½ hours.
© Japan Today
5 Comments
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Disillusioned
K-cars are a death trap in an accident. They fold up like an aluminium can. I would never own one and would definitely wouldn't put my kids in one. I'm astonished by how many young families have them. Yeah, they are cheap but, what price would you put on your life?
Goodlucktoyou
Have a 4wd k car. In the heavy snow, each day I saw 1-4 bmw, Mercedes or Lexus crashed. No problem for apart from having to stop and help them.
Disillusioned
Good luck to you indeed!
Seawolf
Wow, thats close to were I live. FYI, its a new "mini" highway, only the first 25 km are open yet, without crossings etc, only one lane per direction, with those orange/white poles as dividers in the middle. Meaning, also upcoming cars are close, its not that easy to sway into the opposite lane...
Raymond Chuang
@Disillusioned, if I were living in Japan right now and could own a car, my car of choice would be a Honda Fit 13G. Almost the same size as the larger Kei-car models, the car has enough power for Japanese driving conditions, seats four comfortably and is vastly safer than most Kei-cars (it's gotten good crash ratings even on the stringent EuroNCAP crash tests). I should know--I drive the US-market Fit EX here in the USA and love the car. In fact, you wonder has any Japanese media company been bold enough to write stories about the potential crash dangers of Kei-cars recently or even in the past.