"mr.sumo.snr" wrote:

> "Eric Takabayashi" <etakajp@yahoo.co.jp> wrote in message
> news:4090E9FF.8EC2A7F5@yahoo.co.jp...
> > "mr.sumo.snr" wrote:
> >
> > > My closest friend in the city here had a similar sounding accident about
> > > three and half years ago.  His fault and four other cars plus a house
> genkan
> > > were damaged/destroyed.
> >
> > Wow. How?
> >
> It's quite simply really.  As Mike states - Japanese people drive SO
> carefully along narrow roads. So during morning rush hour traffic they are
> considerate enough to drive no further than 3 meters behind the car in front
> of them doing around 50km/h  Then a car in the opposite lane is clipped from
> behind by an emerging vehicle and crosses the center line ploughing into
> three cars as if they we all one short piece of curbside crash barrier.  The
> offending vehicle continues its odyssey until it is abruptly halted by a
> house!  Or to be precise the concrete and entrance hall of a house.

This is the reason one of the most important factors in my choice of houses is
the area's roads. I do not want myself of my children on the way to school, to
be on roads without clearly marked lanes and sufficient width for ample
shoulders or sidewalks for pedestrians, bicycles, AND opposing lanes of trucks
or buses to pass. There are too many areas even downtown where bicycles,
pedestrians and cars share the same space as houses and utility poles, or where
a slight miscalculation or a driver not yielding half the road can mean losing
an entire car in a field, river, or ditch with no guard rail in sight. Safe
roads are more important to me than price and size of a house.

So why is it deemed your friend's fault?

> As for insurance - I'd said going with just the 'included with the shaken'
> policy is short-sighted.  Fully comprehensive insurance is de rigueur in the
> UK due to the number of car thefts and supermarket car park bump and runs.
> Something in-between is fine for Japan - just make sure it covers personal
> injury to the other party, not just damage to his car.

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Man Chops Off Testicle in Dispute with Wife

Mon Dec 22, 2003; 9:59 AM ET

NAIROBI (Reuters) - A Kenyan man chopped off one of his testicles in a row with
his wife and then walked naked to a police station to report the inci