Osaka police send bus driver's case to prosecutors, citing brake fade in May crash

Osaka prefectural police on October 8 sent the case of a 39-year-old man who was driving a tour bus in a May crash in Shijonawate to prosecutors on suspicion of negligent driving causing injury, Sankei Shimbun, TBS NEWS DIG and Nippon TV News reported. Police identified the cause as brake fade, in which brakes overheat from frequent foot-brake use and suddenly stop working, according to Sankei. TBS and Nippon TV reported that police attached an opinion seeking "strict punishment", asking prosecutors to indict. [ 1 , 2 , 4 ]

According to the allegation reported by Sankei, at about 7:10 pm on May 13 the bus rear-ended a truck at an intersection on National Route 163 and drew in another truck and a car, five vehicles in all; TBS gave the time as about 7:20 pm and said the bus hit four vehicles at the Higashi-Nakano intersection. Nippon TV said the truck had been waiting at a signal. Five men and women aged in their 20s to 60s suffered minor injuries. The driver was seriously injured: TBS said he broke his pelvis, Nippon TV said his right leg. Sankei said the bus carried no passengers. [ 1 , 2 , 4 ]

The bus was on a test run. Sankei said this followed an inspection, TBS said it followed repairs and that the driver worked for the company contracted to do them, and Nippon TV said an oil leak had been repaired but the brakes were not part of the inspection or repair. The driver told investigators "I was relying on the foot brake at the time of the accident" and "the brakes did not work", investigative sources said. Nippon TV reported that he admits the allegation. [ 1 , 2 , 4 ]

The intersection itself is flat, but the bus had come down a long descent through the Ikoma mountains from the Nara direction, Sankei said. Police based their finding on the driver's statements, the site conditions and an examination of the bus's parts, according to Sankei. [ 1 , 4 ]

Sankei and Nippon TV reported other fade-related crashes. In mid-September, a truck rear-ended a Kobe city bus waiting at a signal on a downhill prefectural road in Kobe's Nada Ward; about 10 passengers suffered minor injuries and the truck driver broke a leg, Sankei said, and the truck driver said the brakes stopped working. Sankei said fade was confirmed in at least eight accidents on the Nada-Sanda road since 2021, while Nippon TV cited police as saying there were nine in the past five years including September's. The road was designated a priority route for fade countermeasures by Hyogo police in 2024, has about 30 warning signs, and Kobe plans to add more, according to Sankei. [ 1 , 4 ]

Sankei also recalled a 2022 crash on the Fuji Azami Line in Oyama, Shizuoka Prefecture, where a charter bus carrying 34 passengers overturned on a curve, killing one passenger and injuring 28; a national accident investigation report cited the driver's inexperience and reliance on the foot brake. The Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) urges drivers to use engine braking on long descents, Sankei and Nippon TV reported, and also stresses regular inspections, according to Sankei. [ 1 , 4 ]