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Two killed after minivan rear-ends truck stopped on expressway

9 Comments

A man and a woman were killed on Friday morning when the minivan they were riding in rear-ended a small truck that had stopped on an expressway.

According to police, the accident occurred at around 7:30 a.m. on a three-lane section of the Kanetsu Expressway in Ogawa, Saitama Prefecture. Fuji TV reported that the truck had stopped in the center lane due to engine trouble and its two occupants had gone to the edge of the expressway when the minivan, carrying four occupants, rear-ended it, then ricocheted into the guard rail.

Police said a man in the front passenger seat of the minivan and a woman in the back seat were killed, while the male driver of the minivan and another woman passenger in the back seat suffered heavy injuries. Police have not yet released their names and said the two people killed were in their 20s or early 30s. The man and woman who had been in the truck were not injured, police said.

Police said the truck's hazard lights were on at the time of the accident.

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9 Comments
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Should have put out the triangles or flares in addition to the emergency flashers being on. Maybe the truck could not get over due to traffic, running slow due to traffic and no momentum =could not get over.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

@badsey3

Should have put out the triangles or flares in addition to the emergency flashers being on. Maybe the truck could not get over due to traffic, running slow due to traffic and no momentum =could not get over.

I thoroughly agree ! Most people know what the "hazard lights" are for and whether it be for "illegal parking" or for a "technical problem" people usually manage to drive around a stalled vehicle. My (previous) car stalled on the Expressway on the way to Narita (the alternator died after 20 years of "service"...) I was on the extreme right lane because that was the one to get to Narita. Nobody "bumped into" me. Finally a Road Patrol car came along and while I steered, one of the men stopped the traffic while the other two pushed my car over to the left "emergency lane". There was NO WAY I could have "driven" the car over. Maybe the truck had a similar problem ?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Possibly on a blind curve. Possibly no time to deploy flares and triangle...?

Either way a nightmare scenario. I feel for everyone concerned.

The Highway Patrol will come and tow your car away if necessary, but they warn you to get off the hard shoulder and stay behind the crash barrier.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

chisineko

Travel in middle lane, coasting to a stop in the middle lane. All on a high speed road. Tremendous driving skills. Forgivable perhaps only in a snow white out.

How do you know that the truck didn't become inoperable while on a uphill grade, moving very slowly in heavy traffic, or even stopped in a gridlock? A tad dismissive of possible contributing factors aren't you?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

RIP poor unlucky people.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Travel in middle lane, coasting to a stop in the middle lane. All on a high speed road. Tremendous driving skills. Forgivable perhaps only in a snow white out.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

As a driver it is your responsibility to see stalled or stopped traffic ahead of you. A (loaded) mini-van with 4 people in it will take some time to stop. The ICC bumper of the truck should have stopped the minivan from sliding under and decapitating the mini-van.

If no flares or triangles (have led beacons also) -throw some trash on the road to get people to slow down and hopefully move over.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Seat belt buckled?

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Silly girl: probably, for the two that died. In any case, there's a reason the two who were driving the truck moved to the edge of the expressway after abandoning their vehicle -- they knew it was extremely dangerous. Was the trouble so bad that they could not have even pulled off to the side? Even if the mini-van could see the hazard (the first time I've ever heard of them being used for their purpose instead of as a signal of illegal parking to pick up smokes or someone atavastation) lights, depending on the stretch of highway they might not have had time to realize the vehicle was stationary. RIP

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

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