Five men and women, aged 16 to 21, were killed early Saturday when the car they were traveling in crashed into a bridge column in Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture.
According to police, the accident occurred at around 2:40 a.m. on National Route 11. TBS reported that the car was completely wrecked in the collision, killing the three men aged 21, 20 and 18, and two 16-year-old girls. Police said the five were taken to hospital where they were pronounced dead on arrival.
Police said there were no tire marks on the road indicating the 21-year-old driver might not have applied the brakes. They suspect the car was speeding when it crossed the center median and slammed into the bridge column.
© Japan Today
27 Comments
Login to comment
Sue Logothetti Thorson
I feel so sorry for the families of these young people who were so tragically killed. In America there used to be a slogan, "Speed Kills", and it still holds true. If only our young ones would learn to be more careful!
smithinjapan
Very sorry to hear this. A car can be a dangerous tool and needs care and respect. RIP
Rik314
Probably a bit of of open road in Kagawa, not well travelled or lit maybe, but 2:40 a.m., no tire marks usually means the driver has fallen asleep at the wheel and that the passengers probably were too. Sad loss of lives.
Harry_Gatto
Most cars these days have ABS so are unlikely to leave tyre marks from braking but from a slide then maybe. In this case I suspect alcohol and running out of talent were to blame. Very sad indeed.
edojin
Saw the blue car on TV. It was totaled. Looked like everything that could bend, did ... even the license plate. And the wall it hit was solid cement. At high speed, there's no way anyone could have survived such impact ...
So for all you teens and other fast-loving driving people ... watch where you're going ... at a safe speed, of course.
CrazyJoe
Make it your business to be one of the safest drivers in the world.
yildiray
Well, technically speed doesn't kill you. The sudden deceleration, however...
FightingViking
I think we might need a "negative" in there ? e.g. Might NOT have applied the brakes ?
Anyway, very sorry for the families of these young "fast and furious" kids. RIP.
jcapan
Imagine it being your job to break the news to those families. Boggles the mind.
Disillusioned
Who was driving? Recently the Australian RTA have put limits on the number of passengers and limited which hours young drivers can drive. Half a dozen teenagers in a car at high speed is just an accident waiting to happen. It only takes a spilt second loss of concentration and they are road kill, as in this case. It's a tragic loss, no doubt, but young people should not be allowed in cars in large groups in the early hours of the morning. Kids will be kids and, sadly, this group of kids are all dead!
Zimiz
What kind of "car" was this? 10 people? Some kind of small bus? Hmm speeding and falling asleep? I wish there were more background information
Moderator
There were five people in the car - two in the front and three in the back.
Patric Spohn
Travelling in what? A minicar?
yildiray
Pro tip: When an article mentions the same person twice, you don't need to count them as 2 people.
Zimiz
My fault i misread 5 people yeah ive realised
bjohnson23
sad but the "NH" (No Hope) generation continues to dwindle on an already short supply of future tax payers. What can one say when there are no jobs available for them after mounting debt from an outdated and flawed education system where its government cares more about military and changing of Constitution than real issues.
Raymond Chuang
Given the way the accident occurred, it will be interesting to see the toxicology report--was the driver impaired by alcohol, an illegal drug or even prescription medication (since many prescription medications can make people drowsy)?
Hugo Kempeneer
It was a kei car...600cc engine and a small body, it was a normal car. SAD
Disillusioned
A 600cc K-Car is only insured to carry four people. Having an accident in one of them is like stamping on an aluminum can!
kokoro7
When buying a car in Japan, my father-in-law said, "Keijidousha wo kau na. Okan mitai ..."
NathalieB
5 teenagers were killed in exactly the same style of crash down the road from me about 6 months ago. Miraculously the driver, the 6th person, survived. They were 6 crammed into a car for 4, no one was wearing seatbelts and they were speeding. The driver was 16 and uninsured. So so sad. Speed/inexperience/recklessness - deadly.
Frungy
It was -4 degrees in Takamatsu on Saturday at around 3am. It is possible that they just hit a patch of ice. Lots of young drivers lack winter driving experience and think that just because there's no obvious snow and no obvious ice that it must be safe. It isn't. Black ice is a real killer.
slumdog
Well, anything is possible, which is probably why the police were quoted as saying the driver 'might' not have applied the brakes. Also, since there has been no precipitation in Takamatsu since Tuesday, the possibility of an ice patch is less likely. Not to mention that fact that the police were on the scene shortly after the accident and would have conceivably noticed had there been icy conditions on the road and would have made notice of that in their reports.
Frungy
And I was just pointing out one possibility.
Route 11 runs close to the coastline in Takamatsu, and near Ryokuchi park there are 4 bridges that run over the river delta. Spray from the river, a diesel spill from a fuel truck, both of these are possible sources of ice. No precipitation is necessary.
Absence of proof is not proof of absence. Black ice is hard to spot. And they don't mention everything in the newspaper report. And exactly what time did they arrive?
In short Slumdog, you don't have a point.
slumdog
As were the police.
Unless you are talking about temperatures of below –18 °C, the scenarios you described are not applicable. As you mentioned, the temperature in that area was no where near that low.
In short, yes I do. You are attempting to second guess the police who were actually on the scene and are doing so with what seems to be faulty knowledge of the conditions for black ice to be present.
I am very happy to pass this information on to you and the readers so that you all may drive more safely.
Makukun
Being from Takamatsu I can tell you there was no black ice so you can discount that theory. Our so called river deltas have very little water in them. Most likely cause is excessive speed.
slumdog
Makukun,
Thank you for your post. It seems Frungy's suggested one possibiltiy was indeed mistaken.