Police suspect human error in fatal car crash in Tokyo

The Right to Life

Outweighs

The Privilege to Drive

Lots of accident happens by elders in japan, many often i heard on news and still nothing change about. really?? 87old and still drive!He took the life of a three old child and his mother. That elder man lived his life. the poor kid had the whole life ahead.

Dinca lonela,

Your comments are spot on.

The 'Golden Generation' are a self-entitled lot.

The driver was quoted by the police as saying the accelerator pedal became stuck.

Sure, blame the car. And I bet he'll be trying to convince himself of that until his dying day. YOU made a mistake, when you stepped on the gas instead of the brake. Own up to it, like a mature adult.

Just put the guy in prison for the rest of his natural life for manslaughter x2 and lying to the police. Make a severe example of him to deter other oldsters from driving when their condition is sketchy.

"...when their condition is sketchy."

And their "sketchy" condition will be determined by...you?

@3RENSHO

And their "sketchy" condition will be determined by...you?

As determined by themselves, friends, family, and (as you've maybe read in the article) their neighbors:

A neighbor of the driver told Kyodo News that in recent months he has seen the man walking with a cane and having trouble parking his car in his garage.

Iizuka was a high official of METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) according to Japanese medias. He is saying the accelerator pedal was stuck. It is doubtful. It is Japanese bureaucrats' specialty to find excuses.

My father in law has parkinsons and takes ages to get dressed etc, but still driving! Madness and yes i have questioned it more than once.

Cars should not be driven in inner city areas with millions of people milling around.

@Kobe White Bar Owner

My father in law has parkinsons and takes ages to get dressed etc, but still driving! 

My mother had Parkinson's, and because of her balance issues caused by Parkinson's, my sister refused to let her drive anymore. I don't know how old your father is, but my mother was in her 80s at that time.

Cars should not be driven in inner city areas with millions of people milling around.

In Tokyo cars are already prohibited in areas where people are “milling around” such as Ginza on Sundays or Omotesando Dori. For personal safety people are responsible for being attentive though many are distracted by smart phones, etc..

The government is considering new rules for old drivers. 1. Areas. 2. Time. 3. Type of cars. Automatic cars are convenient but when drivers get upset, they have dangers to foot a different pedal. I have an experience of it. Old manual gear change cars may revive for old folks.

This makes me so angry, these entitled, arrogant people who STILL drive, are ALLOWED to drive. NO. Enough. Test people over 70 with increasing regularity. No one has a right to drive, everyone has a right to live. It terrifies me when my children go out to walk to the park, the shops... of course we have no control over what unfolds, but having incompetent drivers on the road is one danger we CAN and MUST remove.

Earlier readers here with an agenda against the Prius may have been off the mark, but what no-one has mentioned is the remaining problem of the quietness of hybrid and electric cars in general. No-one heard it approaching, I would guess.

Automatic braking fitted to all cars!

Until then, as a first step, to all drivers for their first ten years, and from 60 onwards.

I was knocked flying off my bicycle when crossing at a green light, by a group of young joy riders. I let them go, without telling the police, but I had to use a brick in an empty lot to bend my pedal back to where I could somehow cycle home.

Limit driver license age and/or require more frequent testing of older drivers.

This makes me so angry, these entitled, arrogant people who STILL drive

Same here. Old bloke should be on his knees begging for forgiveness for what he's done to this family.

What if he isn't sorry and it wasn't an accident.

Amazing that people think the elderly shouldn't drive, but they are fine to run a country.

The accelerator became unstuck once the old loon took his foot off it. The car came to a stop eventually, killing two in the process.

Old people in the country because they vote get away with murder. As I am sure will be the case this time as well.

No driving over the age of 60. That will bring down death rates and also remove the major cause of slow moving traffic on the roads. To quote Nader kinda, old people are unsafe at any speed. They cannot even manage their bikes well.

Hmmmm, is this a real story, Prius knocks over a garbage truck, and a bicycle with a three year old has no seat just a basket, this is not making sense.

We need all the kids we can get. We already have too many old people. We don’t need old people killing kids.

Amazing, not one person here interested in due process. Just the more and more usual baying for vengeance.

It’s a tragedy, but the story makes it clear. In the absence of any other evidence, including health problems, the police suspect the driver made a mistake.

If there are no brake marks on the road it is typical to blame the driver and not investigate further....perhaps there was brake failure.......

We have the same problem here in Honolulu. Old wheezers driving that shouldn't be allowed to sit on a locked tricycle. Change the law?? The wheezers do vote.

More victims of the right foot braking method we are all forced to use. 19 pedestrians and cyclists die in the US each day because of it. Would not have happened if the driver had been trained with the Left Foot Braking Method. This was a Type 2 right foot pedal error. (Vehicle may be in the forward or reverse mode. Driver needs to slow or stop. Driver attempts to move the right foot from the gas pedal to the brake pedal. Right foot ends up on the gas pedal. Driver is convinced right foot is on the brake pedal and pushes harder. Crash. This error may occur over many seconds and significant distances. In most cases the driver will not initially understand what went wrong.)

I'd have to emphasize that Japan's law is corrupt and he'll probably be released soon.

This is because the law here is so strict on victimless crime such as drug use (note: doesn't include cultivation, production, smuggling, and distribution) and tax evasion to the point they'd detain someone for 72 hours plus 10 days extension up to two times (total of 23days) along with trial, prison, probation, fine, etc. afterwards but at the same time they'd dismiss someone without a charge for raping his daughter. I don't care what social class or nationality you are but if you think of the case above, something is out of wack. Note that there're countless cases of assault, sexual assault, child molestation and murders that had received petty sentences (Just hit Next at the bottom of Crime section).

My assumption is that the Government doesn't care one bit about the citizens (it's no news) but they care more about protecting their system (eg; tax evasion = no tax = big brother ain't getting his cut).

Male should feel responsability of their own health limit. People died.