The hardship of a serious injury that is not reported "afterwards" and the hardships of the victim and the man who are disconnected

Currently, JavaScript settings are invalid

To use all functions, you need to enable JavaScript.

Photo: Reuters / Afro

A traffic accident that occurs nationwide.The annual death is 3,000 to 4,000, and the number of injured people is about 500,000 each year.It is rarely reported that the victims who were severely injured in the accident have happened.This time, her daughter interviewed her mother and a man who cut her legs in a rear -end collision.We asked about unimaginable suffering after the accident and an insurance company about damages.(Interview / sentence: Non -fiction writer Mika Yanagihara, photographed: Makoto Kato / Yahoo! News Special Editorial Department)

Sudden accident that attacked my daughter

"The news of traffic accidents is flowing every day, but I didn't think my daughter would have an accident. I didn't know that there was a harsh" after "."

It is Keiko Yamamoto (40s, a pseudonym) who lives in the Tokyo metropolitan area.Four years have passed since her second daughter, Mayu (20, pseudonym), had an accident.Her memories at the time were revived, and her chest was tightened.

The accident happened on Saturday, November 5, 2016.She was the first school festival day of Mayu, who was a freshman in high school at the time.

"My daughter was happy to go to school in the morning," I'm going to have fun. "When I thought that it would be time to come back in the evening, I thought that it would be time to come back, I received a call from a strange number.There was

Normally, Keiko doesn't usually get to the caller, but at this time she was so excited that she pressed the incoming button.

"It was a phone call from the police." The young lady is hit by a car and is in a dangerous state. Please go to the hospital immediately. "I went by car in a hurry. "

When I arrived at the hospital, a female student wearing the same school uniform as the second daughter was trembling near the emergency outpatient reception.

"I'm a friend of Mayu. Is there any injury? Are you okay?"

When Keiko called out, she answered that she was scared.

"On the way home from school, Mayu was walking in front of me. When I wanted to call out, suddenly made a loud noise and disappeared in front of me ..."

Collision with no brake at 40 km / h

The accident happened on a one -way road with good visibility.A light passenger car that has been driving on a 30 -kilometer regulation on an hour hole collides with a no -brake with Mayu crossing the road.

The car with Mayu -san, who had a strong head on the windshield on the hood, on the bonnet, drove about 15 meters as it was, and Mayu was skipped 10 meters in the impact.

It was a 44 -year -old man who was driving.According to the police, he stated, "If the west sun was dazzling and he turned down to lower the sun visor, he had hit."

Mayu, who was transported to a hospital by ambulance, was immediately tested.She did not see cerebral hemorrhage or cerebral crush, but she was terribly dizziness and her mood, and she had no memory from that morning.Her neck and back pain also complained, her left wrist was broken.

Two days after the accident, I couldn't walk yet, but I was prompted to be discharged from the hospital because there were no abnormalities in my head.She was confused by Keiko, "She is in this state ...", but she left the hospital two days later.

Various hard work at home

I managed to return home by car, but my home was not barrier -free, so I had a lot of trouble.Keiko looks back.

"Because there is no handrail in the room or the corridor, when my daughter goes to the bathroom, someone in my family lent my shoulder and assisted. I can't move my hands properly, so I can't get satisfied with my meal.I was banging, so it seemed like I was going to go to sleep in the futon and get up. "

In addition, Keiko struggled with the interaction with the insurance company that the driver had joined.She decided to rent a nursing care bed to reduce Mayu's burden, but she told her to tell her, "Is there a causal relationship with the accident?"It is said.

At the end of November, it was the same when I decided to go to high school with a strong hope of Mayu.She said she was reluctant, saying, "Is she needed to go to school by taxi? Will she not heal yet?"

Why did the insurance company respond like this?All cars and motorcycles running on public roads are required to take out liability insurance.The maximum payment when the other party has injured (injury) is 1.2 million yen.However, in the case of serious injuries, hospitalization and treatment costs alone will surely exceed 1.2 million yen, so the over of the liability will be paid from the interpersonal insurance that the driver is voluntarily applied.As a result, the person in charge of the insurance company may ask the victims in detail whether they are spending due to the accident, and sometimes suppress them.

"The percentage of negligence is 15 %"

At the end of the year, the insurance company explained the negligence ratio.Keiko looks back.

"The person in charge told me that the negligence was 85 % on the driver, so I want you to get the remaining 15 %."。 My daughter just tried to cross the road in the school zone, and the driver men fully admitted and apologized, but I was wondering why 15 % was responsible. "

It is said that the insurance company has recommended a civil trial to Keiko, who is not convinced.After consulting with her lawyer, she filed a driver in July 2019, about two and a half years after the accident.

A year later, the trial settled.By Keiko, she wanted to break her daughter by her 20th birthday.

"The judge lowered her daughter's negligence to 5 %. I was happy, but the accident in a place that is not a crosswalk is not 100 % negligent on the driver ..."

The lawyer costs for trial and the 5 % negligence offset were all compensated for Keiko's husband's "Lawyer Expenses Special" and "Personal injury compensation insurance".

"This was very helpful. In this case, I realize that car insurance is not only when I became a perpetrator, but also to protect myself and my family when I became a victim. did"

After the reconciliation, he applied for an interview with the driver's insurance company.He asked him why he initially claimed that the ratio of the victim's negligence was 15 %, and that he had settled 5 % in the trial and settled, but he said, "I can't answer individual projects."

Memory that disappeared in the accident

In November 2020, Mayu dressed in the coming -of -age kimono and took a picture.Four years have passed since the accident, and her pain has been softened, but her wounds on her cheeks are determined to be "ugly marks", and she was certified as the 7th grade of disability in liability.She is still worried about her foot wounds, and she can't wear a mini skirt.Her past memories have still been lost.

Mayu says.

"When I was in elementary school, my family, such as Disneyland and school excursions, remained in my memory. Like my body wounds, I can't talk about memories that I enjoyed even if I talked to my family.But it's very hard. "

1 million payments to victims per year

The number of liability insurance paid for victims injured in a traffic accident was 1 million,272 in last year alone.This is a calculation that about one in about 120 people in Japan is paid once a year.Given that the number of deaths in traffic accidents has been in 3,000 people in the last few years, the number of injured people is magnitude.It's not another person.

Approximately 5 % of the injured people have been determined to be "difficult to recover in the future," and have received a disability grade certification (1 to 14).After a momentary accident, the life after that can be greatly changed.

Atsushi Mizuno (56), who lives in Nagano Prefecture, lost his left foot in a traffic accident 27 years ago and was certified as a third -level disability.

"I have become a prosthesis after cutting. 27 years later, my left foot, which should not be, can hurt severely. It is said to be" Genshitsu ". This is attacked.I can't sleep at night. "

The car is a rear -end collision while driving on a motorcycle

Around 10:00 pm on March 5, 1993, Mr. Mizuno (then 29) stopped at a 250cc motorcycle and stopped at a gas station in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture.

"After finishing refueling, I confirmed that the signal on the left side of the road turned red with the clerk who guided me, and started while turning right.I was shocked "

Mr. Mizuno, who was hit by a passenger car and hit the road violently, glanned 26 meters with a motorcycle and stopped.When he looked at his eyes, his left foot toes were in the opposite direction.

Mr. Mizuno, who was diagnosed with "open fracture in the left thigh", had an emergency surgery, but the postoperative course was unwilling to cut it from the thigh 25 days after the accident.

"The pain after cutting was so hard that I couldn't express it in words. Not only. I lost my legs and how to live in the future. I was crushed by anxiety."

The cut left foot was cremated shortly and in the bone pot.It was a strange feeling that some of his body entered the grave first.

For some reason, I am a perpetrator

A 25 -year -old male college student was driving a car, and five days after the accident, he came to the intensive care room with his parents.Two days later, a person in charge of an insurance company, which is a college student, visited the hospital.

He told Mr. Mizuno, who was still connected to a transfusion tube on the bed and could not get up, saying, "There are at least 65 % negligence on the suddenly popping bike."

"I was angry at what I could say about what the basis could be said. At the stage where police were not listening in the first place, I felt sincerely questioned about the insurance company's way of using the negligence ratio.rice field"

I wanted to talk to the police early, but for eight months I was hospitalized.Mr. Mizuno, who was uneasy, went to the police station with an unfamiliar prosthesis after leaving the hospital, explained that the opponent's car ignored the traffic light and hit the motorcycle, and that the stand clerk had witnessed it.

He lost his job in the accident and his life was severe, but he couldn't accept the unreasonable negligence ratio.

"If police investigations are obtained, the facts should be revealed ..."Mizuno believed so, and spent every day with a temporary payment of 100,000 yen per month transferred from the insurance company, and expected the police.

Astonished by a random record

However, two and a half years after the accident, he was sent to the prosecutor, but the opponent's driver was not charged.

Mr. Mizuno, who was not convinced, was appalled for the first time in the prosecutor's office of a part of the live -in -auspicious statement created by the police.The record is written as if a motorcycle had jumped out, and no stand clerk testimony was taken.In addition, the on -site sketch did not even have an intersection that the other driver ignored the red light.

"It was natural that the other party was not charged with this. I lost my energy at once."

But then, I noticed something.Expanding the two motorcycle photos taken by the police and found that the muffler on the right was bent on the right side.

"It was a trace of supporting the other car's car hit by a motorcycle from behind. When I noticed this, I decided to fight thoroughly."

Completely won in civil trials

Seven years after the accident, Mr. Mizuno filed a civil trial calling for damages from car drivers.In the trial, the driver claimed that it was a "green light," but the judge acknowledged Mr. Mizuno's claim, saying, "The defendant was ignorant of the red light, overlapped at a speed exceeding 35 km / h."He ruled that the driver had 100 % negligence.

Although the driver appealed, it was immediately withdrawn, and Mizuno's victory was confirmed in July 2003.

Mr. Mizuno said about the 10 years from the accident to the ruling.

"If I had no memory due to the impact of the accident, and there were no witnesses, this accident would have been recognized as a" motorcycle jumping out "as described by the perpetrator. must"

It is also important to gather evidence yourself

While some perpetrators, like Mayu's case, have recognized their non -perpetrators, some perpetrators do not honestly talk about the cause of the accident.But police investigations do not always reveal the truth.As in Mr. Mizuno's case, the accidents may progress, emphasizing the statements of the perpetrators.Even if it is a victim, the police can not be viewed until the charges or prosecution of the perpetrator may take several years to notice it.

Lawyer Aono, who has been supporting traffic accidents for many years and has been involved in many trials, says that if he becomes a victim, it is important to control objective evidence himself, not just the police.。

"The compensation received by the victim is greatly affected by the negligence ratio. Especially in the case of severe disability, only 10 % different will give a difference of more than 10 million yen. Consult a reliable lawyer as soon as possible.It is important to keep photos of the site and accident cars on your own before the traces of the accident disappear, please tell the police the accident status you remember. Recently, a good performance drive.The recorder is also widespread, so please ask not only your own but also the images and security cameras on the carried car side. "

It is not the insurance company, but the court

In the future, victims of serious injuries may need wheelchairs, prostheses, nursing beds, sputum aspiration, and oxygen saturation meter.It is also important to assume that, and to evidence the price and useful life of the necessary equipment, and to concretely claim that "I need to replace many times over the next many years, so I want you to compensate them."

Aono talks about negotiations with insurance companies:

"As you can see from Mayu and Mizuno's case, insurance companies may give negative answers first, but the answer is" I can't pay (now). "It is not a final conclusion. When the insurance company says, "I am not covered by compensation," some victims think, "Is that something like that?"Even if the insurance company denies, it is not unusual for the court to admit it as a subject of compensation. It is a "court" that decides what is subject to compensation, not an "insurance company".Is. Please remember that. "

Mizuno, who had an accident at the age of 29, was 56 this year.If you notice, you have lived about half of her life as a mid -career.The useful life of her prosthesis is three to five years.There are six prostheses that have been replaced so far.

"I can't compare it to the sadness of a fatal accident, but I know that many victims who have been seriously injured in a traffic accident suffer unexpectedly hard reality that starts unexpectedly from that moment, and live with the disability. I would like to"

Mika Yanagihara was born in Kyoto in 1963.She was free after working as a motorcycle magazine editorial reporter.She reported on traffic accidents and judicial issues and wrote to each magazine.She was serialized in the Weekly Asahi's accusation report, which led to her liability assessment system.He has authored "Pitfalls of Automobile Insurance" (Asahi Shinsho), "Snow Negotiator Back File" (Kadokawa Shoten), Historical novel "Man who made Kaisei, Sano Ding" (Kodansha), "I have not been abused.Shaking child syndrome (Kodansha), etc.Journalist Nonfiction Writer Mika Yanagihara Official Site

List of social issues articles (36)