It’s a terrible story.” The surprising reason why Fukui Prefecture has created a “pit” to remove the covers of roadside ditches.

Twelve years have passed since the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake. Municipalities across Japan that have nuclear power plants are now building evacuation roads in the event of a nuclear disaster. In the vicinity of Tsuruga City, Fukui Prefecture, where the Japan Atomic Power Plant is located, prefectural and municipal governments have opened a series of roads for accident control and evacuation in the event of a nuclear accident, including the Suzukazaki Tunnel on City Road No. 2 Nishinoura, which opened in spring 2022.

I want you to remove the covers from the gutters so I don’t have to park there.

The “pitfall accident” experienced by Mr. A, a resident of Tsuruga City, occurred near the Suzukesaki Tunnel on November 13 last year.

On that day, I was driving a Mazda Demio on Prefectural Route 141 near Shikohama in Tsuruga City, heading north (Suzukesaki Tunnel). I suddenly noticed a car approaching from behind and decided to let it go first. I wasn’t in the mood to be agitated, but I thought of the “duty of the vehicle being overtaken” (Article 27 of the Road Traffic Law). I thought, “I should avoid this.

However, the area around Shikohama has always been a single lane along the ocean, with a narrow shoulder on the left side… and finally, I saw the vacant lot where the accident took place ahead on my left. As soon as I put on my left blinker and tried to enter the clearing, I felt a strong impact as if I had fallen into a pit. I also heard a dull sound of a gurgle and a thud as if I had hit the underside of the car. At that point, the car following me accelerated at once and overtook my car.”

Mr. A’s car fell into the “ditch without a lid” that runs along the shoulder of the road all the way to the entrance of the vacant lot. He quickly swerved and was able to get back on the road, but his car was damaged.

Mr. A continued, “Not only could I not see from the driver’s seat that the lid had flown off, but I was also confused because some parts of the car were partially covered by the lid. It was only when I tried to pull the car into the clearing that I was able to see it, but it was a trap. To enter the vacant lot on the left side of the road, you always have to cross the ditch, but there were no warning signs or poles at the entrance, no entry or no trespassing, or anything like that.

Mr. A’s car was severely damaged by the hard concrete ditch, and the cost of repairs was a hefty 600,000 yen.

We thought the accident might have been caused by a road defect, so the day after the accident we sent an e-mail to the road construction section of the Public Works Department of the Fukui Prefectural Government, but after several weeks there was no response. So I contacted various places, including Tsuruga City Hall, and found out that the ditch in front of the Suzukesaki Tunnel was under the jurisdiction of Fukui Prefecture. In the end, it was a month and a half after the accident when I was able to go check the site with the person in charge at the civil engineering office that manages the road where the accident occurred.”

Then, at the direction of the person in charge, Mr. A submitted a petition to the prefectural governor, the administrator, to file a claim for compensation for damages.

After catching wind of the above information, we interviewed the Tsuruga Civil Engineering Office of the Reinan Promotion Bureau, which managed the road at the accident site. When we asked why the cover had been removed from the ditch at that location, the person in charge gave us an astonishing reason that we could not believe our ears.

The reason the lids were removed was at the request of the local residents. A lot of fishermen visit the area and park illegally along the road. We responded to their request to remove the cover from the gutter to prevent them from parking there.

This was a surprise. By removing the covers from the gutters, they were intentionally making it dangerous for people to park there…or were they trying to keep people from parking there? Later, we received an explanation from the Fukui prefectural government official correcting our statement that they “intentionally made it dangerous,” but still no explanation as to why they had removed the cover after all.

The person in charge of Fukui Prefecture later corrected his statement, saying, “In the first place, that place was not an evacuation shelter, but an old road that used to be used before the Suzukesaki Tunnel was built, where construction materials and the like were stored. It was not intended for general vehicles to enter.

Although the tunnel was “not an evacuation site” and “was not intended for general vehicles to enter,” there was no sign prohibiting entry, nor was the entrance blocked by poles or ropes. A Street View photo taken in May 2022, two months after the tunnel opened, shows multiple tire tracks that may have been left behind when the vehicle got stuck in the ditch.

Also, a “No Parking” sign is faintly visible at the entrance to the tunnel, but the site is not a no-parking zone. It would not be unnatural for a car to pull over a bit into the open space on the left side of the road and stop.

Is ¥33,000 compensation enough for over ¥600,000 in damages?

In late February of this year, about two months after the petition was submitted, Mr. A finally received a message from a representative of the Fukui prefectural government’s road maintenance division regarding compensation for damages.

It’s a terrible story,” he said. First of all, the insurance company says that the maximum payment is 110,000 yen because the market value of the car is the maximum payment. Furthermore, the driver’s carelessness caused the accident, so I am 70% at fault. Also, that place is not a waiting area.

He also told me that the ditch was installed outside the 75-cm shoulder according to the Road Construction Ordinance, so there was no problem even without the lid. ‘ They also didn’t give me a clear answer as to why the lids were removed.”

In other words, if we were to replace the road shown in the photo, it must be secured as a shoulder at least 75 cm wide from the white line (outer roadway line), but it is secured, and anything outside of that is not considered a road. In other words, the gutters are outside of the road, so even if the covers were removed, the prefectural government could not be said to have neglected safety management of the road.

It is highly unusual for Fukui Prefecture to pay “market value” for damage caused by negligent road management, and the claim that the driver was careless in front of the car is highly questionable. To begin with, if the driver could see from the driver’s seat that there was a continuous ditch without a lid, he would not think of crossing the area. He pulled over into the open space because he was careful ahead and thought it was safe to do so.

Fukui Prefecture is now trying to compensate Mr. A for over 600,000 yen in damages with only 33,000 yen on the grounds that ‘Mr. A was 70% at fault. When we asked the road maintenance section of Fukui Prefecture again, they replied, “We will deal with this through the road’s insurance, but we have not come to an agreement on the amount, so we are considering it again,” but the argument that “Mr. A was 70% at fault” is absurd.

What is going on at the scene? There is no road sign prohibiting entry into the vacant lot, and there are no poles at all. With only a sign saying “Watch the shoulder ahead,” the driver has no idea what to watch out for. Since drivers are still free to enter the open space, there is a possibility that similar accidents will occur in the future.

As for the continued neglect of dangerous areas, I am even more outraged by the attitude of those who try to justify the neglect of dangerous areas with reasons that are not even good reasons.”

The road is designed to avoid nuclear accidents, but it is careless about avoiding pitfall accidents. We can only hope that no new serious accidents will occur.