A railway crossing near Oyama station. Image source.
This month, the Japanese news has been full of tragic accidents resulting from negligence and distraction. First, a child died after sticking her head out of a moving car. Only a few days later, a woman almost let her infant son drown when she got caught up in surfing the internet. Now, in a continuation of this unfortunate streak of accidents, a man in Tokyo has died after stepping into a railway crossing while using his smartphone.
Since this news broke, netizens have been quick to blame the man’s foolishness and reluctant to consider this a problem with cell phone use in general. Commenters’ sympathies have overwhelmingly sided with the train company, with some drawing a parallel between this accident and a previous incident where a train company successfully sued the bereaved family for losses after a man with dementia was hit by a train.
From Yahoo! Japan:
Man Dies After Being Hit By Train in Itabashi, Tokyo; Did He Enter The Railway Crossing Without Noticing Because He Was Using His Cell Phone?
Around 8:10 PM on October 16, at a railroad crossing near Oyama station on the Tobu Tojo line in Oyamahigashi, Itabashi ward, Tokyo, a man seemingly in his 40s died after being hit by the Tokyo-bound express train from Ogawa to Ikebukuro. The man was observed walking while fiddling with his cell phone, and Tokyo Metropolitan Police at the Itabashi office believe that the man entered the railroad crossing without noticing that the crossing gates were going down.
According to the police, the railroad crossing where this occurred has crossing gates that descend on both sides. An alarm sounded, and the crossing gates came down, but it seems that the man passed through the gap between the gates and entered the railroad crossing. The train was moving at high speed in order to pass through Oyama station.
Comments from Yahoo! Japan:
sk0*****:
I feel bad for the train driver!
rx7*****:
If the family gets sentenced to pay a large amount in damages when a senile old person wandering around gets hit by a train, then it’s only fair if someone gets charged with liability in this case, too.
tak*****:
While on his smartphone. They should investigate a legal punishment for that!!
sub*****:
What sort of content has someone so glued to their phone while they’re walking in the first place?
cel*****:
I’m sorry to the man who died, but this is just out of the question.
red*****:
How troublesome for the train and the passengers. It’s the man who got hit by the train’s fault for being so engrossed in his phone that he didn’t look where he was walking.
yas*****:
Don’t you think he intentionally slipped through the gap in the crossing gates? This is unthinkable. I don’t think the cell phone is the problem.
hay*****:
I can’t help but think that he noticed the crossing gates and deliberately went through the middle.
s10*****:
You reap what you sow. But what a bother for those around him.
orp*****:
Using your cell phone (smart phone) while walking is just fucking annoying!
mma*****:
It’s not the smartphone’s fault, it’s this man’s fault. Regardless of the circumstances, he got hit by a train! His family should pay reparations to the train company. Moreover, we should punish the use of smartphones, phone conversations, and texting while driving. It’s not just dangerous for you, but for everyone around you.
fr9*****:
There are plenty of people walking around while looking at their cell phones, but is your phone really that important?
arc*****:
I thought it would be a young person… Man in your 40s, what the hell are you doing?
ぽんぽん:
Is this even possible? No matter how engrossed he was in his cell phone, I would expect him to notice the crossing gates going down.
chi*****:
He was so lost in his cell phone that he unconsciously avoided the crossing gates? If he was that submerged in it, he completely got his just desserts. How troublesome for the train company…
fre*****:
There should be a fine for walking while using your cell phone, and walking while smoking!
a12*****:
They should demand reparations from this man’s family for obstructing railway traffic and endangering others. When that man with dementia entered a railway crossing, they claimed reparations. Getting hit by a train because you’re distracted by fiddling with your cell phone is just reaping what you sow.
lef*****:
People doing something else while walking is bothersome.
frs*****:
Just taking responsibility for yourself is not enough. He burdened the train driver with the trauma of an accident he’ll never forget for the rest of his life!
whiteorbald:
If he passed between the crossing gates as they were going down, it was probably suicide. In fact, he was probably posting “killing myself now!”
