Japan woman, 54, a truck driver, kills family of 5 while distracted by TikTok on phone

A 54-year-old Japanese truck driver pleaded guilty to negligent driving resulting in death after causing a multi-vehicle collision that killed six people in total.

She was distracted by her smartphone when the incident took place in Mie, Japan.

The deceased included a family of five, as well as a man driving from Saitama.

The driver, Mitsuyo Mizutani, from Hiroshima, admitted to the charge on Jun. 10, NHK World and CBC reported.

Collision

The incident occurred on Mar. 20 at about 2:20am in a tunnel on the Shin-Meishin Expressway, near the exit of the Nonobori Tunnel on the southbound side, Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

Mizutani rear-ended a vehicle that was in traffic behind a line of other vehicles, due to a road work.

The passenger car that was hit by her truck, as well as another passenger vehicle involved in the collision, were crushed between the truck and a large trailer.

This caused vehicles to catch fire.

She told investigators that she “was not driving that fast” but “was not watching the road carefully”.

She also told police she was looking at her smartphone.

TikTok

The prosecution said that while Mituzani was driving, she was talking hands-free on her phone with a colleague.

She then began watching a cooking video on TikTok.

Mituzani looked away from the road for approximately 13 seconds as she attempted to take a screenshot of the video before slamming into the line of cars in the tunnel.

Relatives of the victims, who attended the hearing, also issued statements.

They were reportedly angry as the victims “bore absolutely no responsibility” for the accident and lost their lives due to Mituzani’s driving.