Truck may have taken wrong road before crashing with train in Yokohama

Headline should read "Keikyu to normalize train service after confirming the cause and making sure it doesn't happen again".

Yes, Keikyu needs to take full responsibility for all truck drivers who misjudge turns, and guarantee that none shall ever misjudge a turn ever again, and the headline should reflect that.

According to witnesses interviewed on the scene, the driver had been trying to get unstuck for about 20 minutes, but no one pressed the emergency button! He first tried to turn left, away from the tracks, but couldn't turn the corner because of the pole at the corner and the narrowness of the street(it became narrower and narrower as he approached the corner). Then he got stuck trying to make the right turn. There were NO SIGNS to warn him.

@Dinesh.

How do you expect them to widen a small road that has no space on the left or right? Please explain, and enlighten us how this is possible.

After seeing the accident video, it's too hard to turn the truck in the small area before fumikiri. Government gets so much tax money from us and can even a provide wide roads or have a proper road signs. every road is narrow which leads to more accidents.

@reckless

Geeze! Talk about trying to deflect responsibility! The only one responsible here is 1. You for making this crazy comment, and 2.the truck driver.

How long was the truck stuck before the train hit? It sounds like he tried to cross when the train was already coming and paid heavily. If the train was further away he could still jump out and run to the side. Anyway these are all assumptions.

I watched the reenactment on the news this morning. The road that the truck was turning from was very narrow, very near and parallel to the train tracks. The driver was trying to make a multiple point turn to go through the railroad crossing. At some point the front wheels of his truck got stuck on the tracks with the driver's door facing the oncoming full speed train. That poor soul took the train right in his face.

It seems people who are blaming the departed driver have no experience driving in Japan. As some of the posters have already mentioned the roads in Japan suddenly get very narrow without any proper warning and the latest smart navigations make it more difficult.

Also, the road design in terms of turns and crossings isn’t very good and it’s very common to make a mistake on a new route.

Wasn't there a station a few metres away? I'm surprised that no one on the platform ---passengers or staff--- raised the alarm in time.

You do realise that this employee hasn't committed suicide, he has died trying to do the right thing however mistaken he was. It simply seems to have been a wholly preventable accident. RIP.

It is amazing that no-one else died, and only 33 injured out of about 500 on the train, plus onlookers, local residents, etc...

that the side road was not a part of the route the company had instructed him to take

A friend of mine that owns a trucking company says all drivers have specific routes they must drive sticking to wide roads. That hasn't stopped certain drivers though thinking they can take a short cut down narrow roads which led them to being unable to move straight or tires being stuck in drains.

Alex, I was referring to signs warning of the narrowing road, you know, like "Low Bridge" warning signs.

I wonder why he didn't just leave the truck when he realized the train was coming and all the signals were going off.

Well, he had a company truck, which he probably didn't want to get hit by a train, and also likely didn't want to leave a truck on the tracks in front of a train.

Very sad. RIP to this guy - a wrong turn turned deadly.

I wonder why he didn't just leave the truck when he realized the train was coming and all the signals were going off.

l lived in Nishi-ku, Yokohama-shi and saw truck drivers taking a chance crossing the train lines even after the warnings bells sounded and the barriers start coming down. Truck drivers break so many barrier-poles on the Keiku-sen, it's an every week ocurance and don't care because they are always in such a hurry...does 5 minutes make that much difference...? Michio Motohashi was killed, my condolences to his family, but a 67 he should be retired at home with his feet up watching TV drinking a beer, not driving a truck....but that's Japan. My heart goes out to the injured and all concerned.

A friend of mine that owns a trucking company says all drivers have specific routes they must drive sticking to wide roads. That hasn't stopped certain drivers though thinking they can take a short cut down narrow roads which led them to being unable to move straight or tires being stuck in drains.

I have lived in this area(Higashi-Kanagawa) for many years and can confirm that the truck drivers coming and going from the Yokohama Central Wholesale Market are a menace all along the Tokaido Road (rt 15 which the Keikyu line runs parallel to between Yokohama and Kawasaki).

They very often run red lights, rat run through narrow residential streets, park in non-parking areas and fill the air with noxious exhaust while they idle for hours, and repeatedly crash into and cause damage to infrastructure (a low train trestle on the Keikyu line near Kanagawa skate rink gets smashed into about once a month).

It is very silly to see you are on train tracks and not leaving your vehicle with incoming train honking you. Got to be suicidal. He preferred to save his face by trying to the last second then to be fired for sure.

I see some posters are blaming the driver for seeing the oncoming train and not getting out and running away for all we know he might have been carried away trying to navigate his away out of the track and might have realized the on coming train too late just prior to collision.

As one poster pointed roads here especially in old crowded residential areas are narrow and can become even narrower for even a normal sized car without any prior warning.

Too much lack of fore sight in town planning and road construction, in most cases cost is the prime criteria rather than convenience and ease.

 it is virtually impossible to even drive 20kph

Good.

"Results show that the average risk of severe injury for a pedestrian struck by a vehicle reaches 10% at an impact speed of 16 mph, 25% at 23 mph, 50% at 31 mph, 75% at 39 mph, and 90% at 46 mph. The average risk of death for a pedestrian reaches 10% at an impact speed of 23 mph, 25% at 32 mph, 50% at 42 mph, 75% at 50 mph, and 90% at 58 mph."

https://aaafoundation.org/impact-speed-pedestrians-risk-severe-injury-death/

Actually the lorry driver, the train driver and the government are to blame for this mess.

The lorry driver for trying to squeeze through the narrow side road, and then not plowing through the crossing gates.

The train driver for going too fast and not braking asap when he saw the red light.

The government for not having in law that all railways have to use proper detectors on crossings, a system where the train would stop automatically when an obstacle is detected and FLASHING warning lights at the same time.

Unfortunately, it takes deaths to push people into action…

@drako

The should have planned this way before...build a decent flyover or a underground crossing.. There are so many ways to do this..

Another reason he may not have simply abandoned the truck is that he understood that leaving it there would risk the lives of hundreds of rail passengers.

No way to know now though.

Railroads should have a safety system that trains automatically stop when cars are in the crossing while gates are closed.

They do. Keikyu does not. It should be required.

How long was the truck stuck before the train hit? It sounds like he tried to cross when the train was already coming and paid heavily. If the train was further away he could still jump out and run to the side. Anyway these are all assumptions.

Reportedly 20 minutes and not a mad dash to cross. This is significant because the trains should have received information of the barrier in existence.

Yes, Keikyu needs to take full responsibility for all truck drivers who misjudge turns, and guarantee that none shall ever misjudge a turn ever again, and the headline should reflect that.

While Keikyu is not fully responsible, evidence suggests it is partially responsible.

Kekyu does not have an automatic braking system once the obstacle detection system detects a barrier; however, with Odakyu, Keio, Tokyu, and other train companies, it is standard and is used

Keikyu puts the safety of its passengers into the hands of the train driver. If a driver does not see the warning or sees the warning but but does not apply the brakes in time, or sees the warning and does not apply the brake at all, lives are at stake.

Human error is part of the equation, Both the truck and the train drivers’ human error contributed to the tragedy. Although it is yet to be confirmed but the truck did not just cross the crossing between 600 meters and the site of the accident. He was trying several times to make a narrow right turn and for a 12 meter long truck. The detection system would have picked up the obstacle before 600 meters and had the automatic braking system been applied, the impact could have been avoided or lessened, assuming the braking system functioned properly.

Though the initial cause was the rear of the truck not clearing completely the crossing, this is not a case where Keikyu can said there was nothing we could have done.

The truck driver may be responsible, but it’s got to be sad if there’s a lot of bad drivers out there in this country.

I’ve never felt this as unsafe as I do feel here when driving, and I come from Rome, which says a lot in terms of danger tolerance.

The driver of the train,couldn’t stop in time, this must mean that he was going to fast to avoid the obstacle. If this is the case, then the whole system has to be overhauled until a safer one can be put in place.

“but no one pressed the emergency button!”

Tonight’s news is saying that the emergency button was pushed. There was also some interaction between Keikyu employees and the truck driver.

I just heard that on the news too.  That Keikyu doesn't have an automatic stop (or reduce speed), and leaves it entirely up to the driver, who may or may not be attentive caused this accident.  20 minutes stuck on the tracks and the train doesn't stop, to me puts the fault entirely on Keikyu.

The driver, Michio Motohashi, 67, at 67, I don't want to be working, especially driving a large truck, its hard work. either way its very sad that there has been so many injuries and a fatality.

drlucifer - those old narrow residential streets are naturally traffic calmed and one of the best things about living in Japan.

If you widen the street you’ll only get more car traffic going at higher speed - and more, not less, accidents.

drlucifer, You must have known the guy up until his death.

Can you point me to any that I wrote that indicates I knew the driver.

None of us was there or knows what was passing through the drivers mind, we are all assuming.

The government for not having in law that all railways have to use proper detectors on crossings

I will had : bad management of roads.

If two cars can not cross each other, that should be a one way road.

If the road is too narrow for a car and a jitensha/baby cart to cross each other, that should be private road only used by people living in it

Specificity as narrow, difficult crossing, ... should be notified and if need be restrictions put in place.

My condolences to the bereaved, hope the injured heal quickly and nobody suffer permanent trouble.

Railroads should have a safety system that trains automatically stop when cars are in the crossing while gates are closed.

PS it was a large truck apparently full of oranges

Anything happens on a rail track, the worst affected are always the train services and its passengers. Lucky this time there were no passenger fatalities. Even though it’s the trucker’s mistake; Keikyu needs to build measures to avoid such a collision in the future.

A sensible truck driver would have realized it was impossible to make the turn and gone the other way to turn around and come back. This is such a Japanese thing. That minute you save by rushing could cost you your life and, in this case, it has. I saw a salaryman fall down the stairs yesterday while rushing to catch a train that comes every three minutes. He split his head open and was bleeding profusely. Yes, time is money, but death is final.

If I got stuck on the tracks, once those cross-guards come down, I'm ditching the truck.

@drlucifer, You must have known the guy up until his death.

drlucifer - those old narrow residential streets are naturally traffic calmed and one of the best things about living in Japan.

The roads are narrow and lined with power poles some even inside the road coupled with pedestrians on foot, bicycles and scooters it is virtually impossible to even drive 20kph let alone change routes with poles on the way. To me, it is an eyesore.

The cause was bad truck driver that rushed thru the crossing last second badly.

Signs? you mean like train tracks? or maybe ringing bell ? or how about not getting into narrow street against the traffic direction in the first place ?