EXCLUSIVE: Electric Wheelchair Accidents Surge at Rail Crossings

November 10, 2018

Tokyo--Following a surge in the number of fatal accidents involving electric wheelchairs stuck at rail crossings, the National Institute of Technology and Evaluation has started an investigation, Jiji Press learned Saturday.

The move came as the death toll from such rail crossing accidents totaled five so far this year, against a total of four in the past 10 years, according to informed sources.

Using the investigation results, NITE plans to call for attention by users.

Helpful for people with weak arm and gripping power, electric wheelchairs are a key transportation means for elderly people.

According to the National Police Agency, 144 to 242 people in electric wheelchairs were injured in accidents each year between 2008 and 2017, and five to 13 people died annually.

Of them, the number of people in electric wheelchairs killed in accidents at rail crossings stood at one in 2008, two in 2012 and one in 2013.

In 2018, however, five died in such accidents in Yamanashi, Aichi, Hyogo and Wakayama prefectures in January-September. The victims were people aged 69 to 90. With their wheelchairs stuck at rail crossings for some reasons, trains failed to stop in time despite hard braking.

Accidents occurred in succession this year, said a senior official of an electric wheelchair makers' association.

The accidents may have been caused by batteries running out or wheels getting stuck in gaps at rail crossings. Stalled wheelchairs at crossings could cause serious accidents, but devices to detect obstacles at rail crossings are designed for bicycles and thus often fail to react to electric wheelchairs, which are more compact.

In March 2017, the welfare ministry urged prefectural governments to call on welfare equipment manufacturers to inform electric wheelchair users of the need to check battery levels and move at a right angle to rails. The ministry also called for skirting around rail crossings if possible. Jiji Press