Nara car chase ends with arrest for ignoring traffic lights
NARA —
A black Mercedes-Benz led seven police cars on a two-hour chase through the city of Nara early Thursday morning after the driver fled from police questioning for going through a red light.
Police said the chase took them past sights like Todai-ji, Kofuku-ji and the Nara Prefectural Police Headquarters, going through around 50 red lights, before the Mercedes-Benz finally ran out of gas.
The 49-year-old male driver was arrested on charges of ignoring traffic signals. According to police, he did keep within speed limits throughout the chase and no one was injured.
News reports
Order by Time Order by Popularity
32 Comments
Login to comment
0
fds
you gotta be kidding me. is that all they can charge him with? what about fleeing and reckless driving etc.?
0
taj
fds, that can all come later.
all they need is one thing for starters. They'll add as they go.
0
cactusJack
Probably cost taxpayers over 500,000 yen to catch and process that guy. Or maybe a lot more. What a waste.
0
Disillusioned
Only in Japan. (roll eyes)
0
Baibaikin
The driver was obviously taking in the sights of the city and was determined not to be interrupted.
0
timeon
black Mercedes Benz usually means yakuza. and usually police does not question a guy driving a black Benz. wonder what happened?
0
masterkun05
Thats funny. I think it was some relaxation and fun for all concerned. But 50 red light offences. That will cost. A nice ending though and well done to the police. In other counties the car would have been rammed off the road, shots would have been fired or a family would have been killed at an intersection. I guess thats how gentlemen flee. Civilised fleeing if u like.
0
elbudamexicano
Black Mercedez Benz? This is some YAKUZA, maybe a friend of the same stupid police, so they will be nice to him instead of throwing the back at the YAKUZA! If it were a regular Japanese they would be putting their face all over the tv, newspapers, but sounds like an idiot yakuza who was plenty bored??
0
noborito
Police escort of a nite tour of Nara... Got to love it.
0
LFRAgain
I find it amusing that the driver felt compelled to obey speed laws while ignoring a lawful order to stop. Must be an interesting fellow. I wonder what the fine would be for 50 instances of ignoring a traffic light.
0
my2sense
Does anyone know if the cop cars have video recorders on the dash? Unbelievable. So basically the cops never stopped him as he ran out of fuel. Meanwhile sirens wailed for 2 hours over a whole city and the Japanese go on about their business and function. Black MB is 99% yak as "normal" people dont want to be stereotyped. Funny how the writer pointed that out off the bat without claiming.
0
Klein2
"Police said the chase took them past sights like Todai-ji, Kofuku-ji and the Nara Prefectural Police Headquarters, going through around 50 red lights, before the Mercedes-Benz finally ran out of gas."
I was not sure of the syntactical error until the words "Nara Prefectural Police Headquarters" but after reading that, I am pretty sure that these are sites. Do I get a JT T shirt for spotting the error?
0
Klein2
Because the "sight" of Todai-ji is not that great right? And the NPPH can't be all that breathtaking, can it? Certainly grammatically it is ok, but it doesn't really mean what you want it to mean, right?
Oh well. I would think that after 50 red lights, he will owe about as much as it would take to put a down payment on a black Mercedes Benz.
0
JA_Cruise
Good thing he only had a less than a half tank of gas or he would have made it half cross the country!! Wonder what was wrong with the dude? The J-Cops should have formed a car wedge and made him stop, no guts, no glory.
0
S7ro9kGm3aQ
A chase within speed limits? Not much of a chase then.
0
sctaber56
And can you imagine if this guy had hit a deer as he casually drove all around Nara taking in all the sights? Then he'd REALLY have been in hot water i.e. big trouble!! @Klein2: Actually "sights" is used correctly in this article: sights (noun) --> Something worth seeing; a spectacle: the sights of London. So no JT t-shirt this time :)
0
TheRat
Don't get it--they can't like block off the roads with a roadblock and prevent the car. Instead they follow the car at a normal driving speed. WTF! Sorry this just does NOT sound normal! You know, wire ahead, call ahead, need road block at so and so junction. But FIFTY red lights. So much for bright cops, huh!
0
Badge213
The LAPD chased OJ Simpson for two hours at an amazing speed of 35mph!
Definition of chase: "To go after with the intent to catch"
0
sf2k
lol... Obeyed all the laws, except one 50 times. However since the police are allowed under law to actually go through red lights when called for, why were the police not doing so and cornering this yahoo well before he hit 50 red lights???? This makes the police look even more ridiculous than the driver, if that's even possible at this point.
0
bicultural
This isn't America, where car chases are part of daily life. Japanese cops don't have enough practice chasing cars around Japan. Maybe they'll learn that puncturing tires is an effective way of ending a car chase soon.
0
sf2k
so they were following and they all stopped at the red lights together? Stupefying. Why not then just DRIVE IN FRONT OF HIM and box the car?
Uuugh
Really, does that need to be explained?
0
sf2k
bicultural
mythbusters busted that myth about puncturing tires, Youtube it. While it does work, it works quite slowly and is not for immediate effect. It might have cut down the 50th light to 15 or something
0
sf2k
sorry I'm tired, they obeyed the speed limit and ran through lights... XD
0
Zenny11
Thursday morning.
Depends on what time in the morning, if close to or during rush-hour cops will be limited to the actions they can take as it might but the public in danger.
My guess is there were other cars and people oon the road during the chase, most police(in any country) will try to get the car into a rather quiet and safe area first.
0
Klein2
SCTABER. Thanks for sharing. You are totally right! Thanks! I do agree that the Nara Prefectural Police Headquarters building is "a spectacle" and "something worth seeing." I looked it up on Google street view and all I can say is WOW. Just WOW. So sight must be correct because site... I mean site.... just does not do it justice.
Sight it is! Hey have a great weekend.
0
Fadamor
One person's "sight" is another's "site". It all depends on where your interests lie.
The police probably have established rules regarding car chases where extreme methods aren't used unless people's lives are in danger. The suspect was staying within the speed limit, so the only potential danger was that he was going through red lights. And how unlucky is this guy that he hit FIFTY red lights!!! Did he get ANY of them green?!?
0
KingSaint
dear Japanese cops, its called the pit maneuver, learn it, if fact if i was a one of those cops i would have loved to have hit that dude in the black Mercedes Benz just for the fun of it
0
BurakuminDes
I thought ignoring red signals was acceptable here? It seems to be in the city I live in anyway. In fact, for a while when I got here, I thought red meant "GO"... People seem to know they can get away with it anyway.
0
sctaber56
@Badge213 - RE: *The LAPD chased OJ Simpson for two hours at an amazing speed of 35mph! * I remember watching that famous (or infamous) "chase" live on TV while enjoying pizza at our local Round Table - everyone's eyes were glued to the big screen TV that afternoon following the white SUV OJ's friend was driving.
@Klein2: I worked across the street from the Nara-ken Police HQ in the Nara Ken-cho for two years nearly 3 decades ago and yes, for public government buildings, both are quite magnificent. But ya gotta watch out for the deer, none-the-less, whenever in Nara! And the only shiny black limo I ever saw cruising Nara-shi back then had Japan's emperor riding inside during a royal visit to the ancient capital. And with a police escort, of course.
-1
Spidey
Let me get this straight...
They're arresting this guy for GOING THROUGH A RED LIGHT!? If this is the case, then just in my 10 minute drive home from work, I witnessed no less than 5 people doing the same thing. Red lights in this country have absolutely no meaning in relation to stopping your car. Anyone that has lived in Japan for more than ten minutes can attest to that.
Simply ridiculous!
S
0
jj1980
Glad nobody got hurt or killed. At first I was wondering why they never ran him off the road or anything. But then I thought about it. Japan doesn't have any escape routes, and people are everywhere.
I agree with the posters who say that red lights have no meaning. It does, but not until after 5 seconds. When I first started driving in Japan, I used to get upset because people would wait at least 5 seconds to start driving after a green light(NOT BLUE). Until I almost got into a couple a accidents from idiots running red lights.
0
nisegaijin
lol, you are not gonna get away from cops if you follow the speed limit. Most Mercedes are limited at 250km/h and can reach that speed fairly quickly. He should have at least tried it. Couple of blind turns and ditch it in underground parking.
Back to top