A man who had stopped in a parking area on the Chuo Expressway in Hokuto City, Yamanashi Prefecture, to change a flat tire was killed by a car after it hit him from behind on Sunday evening.
At around 4:20 p.m., 59-year-old Tsutomu Yasuda -- who was on his way to Tokyo -- had stopped at a parking area to fix a flat tire when another car rear-ended his vehicle while he was standing beside it, killing him. The driver and three passengers of the other car sustained minor injuries.
Police said the car that hit Yasuda swerved out of its lane and into the emergency parking area where he was stopped.
© News reports
36 Comments
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Beelzebub
Don't they enforce speed limits in parking areas?
LFRAgain
Don't people know how to pull off the expressway safely? For Pete's sake, this poor guy was obeying the rules by getting off the road, and still some absolute idiot managed to hit him -- in broad daylight, no less.
salarymanblues
It is not clear whether they mean Parking Area as in a "PA" with toilets and vending machines, or just the layby by the side of the highway for emergencies.
If the former, this is an extremely inprobable accident.
nisegaijin
i think this is just shoulder... poor guy...
wanderlust
Often seen cars and occasionally trucks use the hard shoulder (emergency parking area?) for "overtaking", passing on the inside, one of the most dangerous manoeuvres that you can make. Drivers here are just so impatient...
societymike
yea, the video footage showed that it wasn't an actual parking area, just the emergency stopping area, the car swerved to avoid a car which slammed on breaks, but swerving caused them to hit the parked car... sad
GG2141
Changing a tire at the side of a busy road is one of the most dangerous things you can do. You have to be so alert that no cars are drifting off course in their lanes. Beside a highway, where cars are moving at 100km/h +, it will have hit you before you even see it.
I have changed a tire on the side of a mountain pass in a blizzard before. One of the most terrifying experiences of my life.
bobbafett
and Japanese people tail gate each other at huge speeds. I wish Pi-pokun, using available technology, would appear suddenly on their TV sets and tell them to back the %$^% up.
USNinJapan2
Invest in some Run-flats folks...
salarymanblues
Haven't seen the footage, but I can imagine the only reason the car in front slammed on the brakes was in a beginners irrational panic at seeing the car stopped in the hard shoulder.
gogogo
Why did the car swerve out of the lane more info please.
Smythe
GG2141 I will fully agree with you for I have off to the side of the road for some reason or another, including replacing a flat tyre & find in very frightening in all cases. You simply do not know what can go wrong with those in the traffic.
Beelzebub
It used to be compulsory to keep a reflective stand in your trunk, which you would put out on the road to warn approaching cars in the event of a puncture or breakdown. I don't know if this law is still around, or if the man was using it. Japanese drivers are awful tailgaters, that's for sure. I have been tempted to install a spray nozzle full of old crankcase oil to make them keep their distance.
chotto
From what I've seen, Japanese drivers are, on the whole, incredibly impatient and dangerous drivers. Case and point.
jason6
RIP
gogogo
chotto: I agree, why I asked about the lane change, sounds like to me someone wanted attention on the road.
Pivot
Poor fella. RIP...
Jbizzle
Japanese drivers love to tailgate. I think in their minds, it's easier to "follow" and mimic the cars actions in front of them which leads to ver dangerous conditions.
BuddhismTech
Greatly dismayed by this accident news. The swerving driver is eligible for a manslaughter charge.
luilui
smaller country with millions of cars on the roads = less space between cars = more tailgating.. so dangerous.
Wakarimasen
highway driving in japan is diabolical. hogging the fast lane, braking for no apparent reason. tailgating (but often because of person in front going too slow in fast lane, left lane almost deserted, etc. I would never stop on the hard shoulder in Japan.
timorborder
Invest in some Run-flats folks...
Would that be the equivalent of investing in some caltrops? Half a dozen of those a couple of hundred meters behind would probably slow down the traffic.
pointofview
People are horrible drivers in Japan. They stop anywhere without assesing their surroundings, signal when they start to turn and run lights. As sad as this case is it just doesn`t surprise me.
USNinJapan2
timorborder
Uh, not exactly. My point was that if you run Run-flat (or equiv.) tires on your vehicle you wouldn't have to stop on the hard shoulder and expose yourself to danger if you suffer a flat. It doesn't help this poor guy any, but if he had Run-flat tires on his car we wouldn't be having this discussion. Caltrops? I hope you were kidding...
Midnightpromise
You can drive for miles on a flat tire if you go slow. Yes, it makes a VERY loud noise under your car but so does another car hitting the car you are changing the tire on. I have done it 3 times in the last 5 years, get a flat, slow down, pull to the shoulder, and DRIVE to an off road area.
saru_au
ambulance approaching: stay on target, stay on target! (don't move a muscle)
salarymanblues
saru_an you forgot something:
When driving in town, never, under any circumstances, yield and allow a car to enter the road from a shop/parking lot/side road. They must wait until there are no cars around (even if it means waiting until 10pm). Doesn't matter if the light ahead is red and you are slowing down anyway, NO-ONE GETS IN FRONT OF ME!
LFRAgain
Tongue in cheek, I'm sure, but still, I can appreciate the sentiment.
That the person who hit this guy was apparently swerving to avoid hitting a stopped/slowed car in his/her own lane suggests the driver was 1) driving too damned fast, 2) was follwing too damned close, 3) wasn't paying any damned attention to his/her surroundings to notice a car parked on the emergency shoulder.
Perhaps some caltrops on the road might make people slow down a bit and pay better attention to their driving environment.
Jbizzle
There is NO excuse for tailgating. If there is a slower driver in front flash lights or honk horn until they move. Tailgating an ojisan will get you nowhere but in an accident. I've seen idiots tailgate ojis for miles but stubborn old ojis never move or speed up. lol
nath
There are three things I called the essentials in traffic. Don't tailgate, always set the blinker if turn to left/right and always be aware of who has the right of way. It would be easy to prevent many accidents, but people don't care. It has something to do with respect... I had a flat tire once, when I was on the overtaking line on a highway. I could change the lane and decided to drive slowly to the next exit. A good decision...
DeepAir65
I hope the driver of the car that swerved to avoid another breaking car and killed this man is prosecuted for manslaughter as that is what this is.
Also for people like this the police should have the power to take away his driving license for good.
JAPANESE PLEASE STOP TAILGATING AND MOVING INTO MY BREAKING SPACE
animallover
He was killed in a parking lot?? usually accidents happen on the road, or in buildings when old drivers mistake brakes for accelators.RIP..
Fadamor
Animallover, it sounds more like he was in the emergency pull-off lane.
DeepAir65, be careful of assuming things based on what others post here. Too often the respondees are throwing out guesses as to what happened with no basis of fact to support it. Nowhere in the article does it say the car swerved out of its lane to avoid another car.
Being a veteran of the U.S.'s second-worst commute (Washington D.C.), I've observed tailgaters panic-braking when the car in front merely lightly taps their brakes. When the brake-lights go on, you don't know how HARD the brakes are being used and tailgaters have to over-react. I find my stress level drops tremendously by leaving an extra gap between myself and the car in front of me when traffic is bumper to bumper. Yes, people will fill that space, but I simply create it again and all is right with the world.
Smythe
Even when riding my motorcycle I find so often I need to stop, remove my helmet & clean the visor. Even then I keep an eye on the traffic for some driver might be looking at me & that is another reason for someone to steer into you. It is overly common to m/c riders that eye-fixcation will have a m/c rider RIDE where their eyes are & not with the traffic.
888naff
wow I'm relived there are some good drivers judging by some of the comments here.. mmm maybe thats why there aren't enough good drivers back home, there all now living in Japan.
benhur
LOL>888naff