Outrageously high speed”…A Porsche driving at 268 km/h crashed into a car! Two people killed on Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway.

The driver was overconfident in his driving skills and lacked awareness of the dangers of driving at high speeds.

The defendant drove at an abnormally high speed and committed a heinous act of maliciousness.

The judge ruled that the defendant was guilty of manslaughter and applied the charge of dangerous driving.

On January 27, Yokohama District Court sentenced Yoshiyuki Hikota, 56, a company executive living in Edogawa Ward, Tokyo, to 12 years in prison. In August 2008, Hikota was driving a luxury sports car, a Porsche 911 GT2-RS, on the Bayshore Route of the Metropolitan Expressway in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, when he collided with a passenger car. Two passengers in the passenger car, a husband and wife in their 70s and 60s, were killed. At the time of the accident, the Porsche was traveling at speeds between 200 and 268 kilometers per hour.

The prosecution argued at trial that at speeds in excess of 200 km/h, even a slight turn of the wheel would cause the car to lean significantly, making it difficult to control. When Hikota tried to change lanes, the car skidded and collided violently with the couple’s car, resulting in the fatal accident.

On the other hand, Hikota claimed that the car was driving steadily until just before the accident and that he was able to control the car even though it was speeding. He claimed that the accident was the result of the car accidentally sliding when he stepped on the brake, and that he did not drive erratically on purpose. …… The court rejected Hikota’s claim and applied the charge of manslaughter by dangerous driving.

FRIDAY Digital has been covering this unprecedented road rage accident since shortly after Hikota’s trial began, and we would like to look back on the day two lives were lost and Hikota’s appalling claims.

I didn’t drive in a way that was difficult to control.

The accident occurred shortly after 8:00 a.m. on a holiday morning in August 2008.

The scene was a three-lane road with relatively clear visibility. However, it is unusual to drive more than three times as fast on a section of road where the speed limit is 80 km/h. It is believed that Hikota tried to pass the car in which the deceased couple was riding and crashed into it at a high rate of speed. The car that was hit was traveling at almost the speed limit.

The impact must have been severe. The rear right side of the car was severely damaged. The deceased woman was thrown out of the car. Immediately after the accident, the section in question was closed to traffic for eight hours.

In court, the prosecution and Hikota’s arguments differed greatly.

The prosecution argued that the defendant was guilty of manslaughter by endangering another driver by driving at a high rate of speed. On the other hand, Hikota apologized for causing a serious accident by driving too fast, but denied part of the charge, saying that he was not driving in a manner that was difficult to control. The defense argued that a lesser charge of manslaughter was appropriate, rather than the more serious charge of manslaughter by dangerous driving.

At the time of the accident, Hikota’s 19-year-old son was a passenger in his Porsche. The prosecution pointed out the following selfish motive for running off the road.

‘It happened about five or six times.

He was thinking of surprising his eldest son, who was in the passenger seat, by showing him how well the car performed.”

Mika Yanagihara, a nonfiction writer and expert on traffic accident issues, explains.

Even if the defendant did not intend to obstruct the car, as he claims, it can be judged as ‘difficult to control’ when the car was going that fast and collided with the car in front without being able to avoid the car in front.

It is true that a Porsche may be able to run at speeds of 200 km/h or more in a stable manner. However, to drive at such a high speed just because it is stable is an extremely selfish and dangerous act that disregards the flow of cars around it that are obeying the rules. Manslaughter by dangerous driving” is a fair sentence.

At the trial, Hikota also stated, “At the time of the accident, I was driving a Corona.

At the time of the accident, there was an unprecedented amount of traffic due to the COVID-19 crisis. It was a gradual downhill, so I was going too fast.

Hikota testified that he did not really feel that he was driving 268 km/h and that he had “driven at a high rate of speed about five or six times in the past.