A taxi crashed into the iron fence around a school in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, on Sunday morning after the 65-year-old driver blacked out.
According to police, the incident occurred at around 4:30 a.m. The 32-year-old male passenger in the back seat called 119 and said that the driver of the taxi he was in had blacked out and lost control of the vehicle, Fuji TV reported.
The passenger told police he tried to take control of the meandering vehicle by grabbing the wheel, but after about 300 meters, the taxi jumped the curb and hit the iron fence outside a junior high school. The passenger suffered an injury to his leg, police said.
The taxi driver was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Police believe he may have suffered a heart attack or stroke.
© Japan Today
18 Comments
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sensei258
Prayers for his family, 65 is still too young
Yubaru
65 driving a taxi? I hope the company wasn't overworking this poor guy, like has happened in other cases where drivers were involved in accidents.
Alex Einz
must be a scary experience for the passenger
gogogo
Seems crazy that the passenger had time to call the police, he must have been driving in a straight line, feel sad for the old guy.
fishy
I think the passenger called the police AFTER the car had crashed... thank goodness he was alive after all.
Dennis Bauer
@Yubaru? really? lots of taxi drivers in Japan are over 65.
Strangerland
Wow, that had to have been a scary incident.
4:30 am on a Saturday, 32 year old passenger. Fairly good chance he was drinking. I hope the police don't decide to prosecute him for drunk driving for taking the wheel - they love to enforce their rules here!
Yubaru
Yes, there are, and many should not be driving as well. Recently down here a 70 year old taxi drive hit a elderly woman crossing the street and killed her, not to mention the 68 year old taxi driver that hit another pedestrian on Hwy 58 here in Naha and killed him as well.
There are an increasing number of taxi related accidents where the drivers are past retirement age.
In this case it could possibly have happened to anyone of any age.
PerformingMonkey
Taxi companies must be required by law to have regular health checks for all taxi drivers over the age of 65.
Yubaru
Taxi companies are required by law to have regular (yearly) health checks for ALL drivers no matter their age!
Bill Murphy
Yubaru: "There are an increasing number of taxi related accidents where the drivers are past retirement age." ....................................................................................................... "Retirement age"? Unless the driver was working as a hobby, I suppose he, and maybe a spouse, relied on the income and so could not "retire". One might argue that he should have been doing some other sort of work, but what? There are thousands, perhaps millions, in the same position in Japan.
gogogo
@fishy: JT didn't really point that out but it sounds correct.
Dan Lewis
Does that make this guy a backseat driver?
Moderator: Please refrain from making stupid comments like this, which only reflect badly on yourself. This is a serious story.
nath
What happened was very unfortunate, and luckily noone was badly injured, but there really should be a cap on drivers' ages. At 65, they should not be allowed to drive passengers - the risk of accidents is just too great. The fact that these guys have to work past 65 is another indication that the social afety net here is in tatters, but this is not the solution.
Alex Einz
@Bill Murphy , the fact that there tons of old people who didnt bother to make plans for their retirement is not an excuse to let em drive multiton killer machines on the roads...
wtfjapan
the quicker self-driving vehicles take the place of these geriatric drivers, the safer Japans roads will be.
WilliB
The story is unclear. Did the driver call 911 while the taxi still was moving, or after it had crashed`?
nath
I thought the same thing. I hope that they leave him alone.