4WD crash driver didn't understand training video

Published on Thu Jan 21, 2010
<p>he Japanese driver of a vehicle which crashed on Fraser Island earlier this month, killing a tourist, was shown a training video in English which he did not understand, a court has heard. Takashi Nukutou, 29, wore a neck brace and spoke through an interpreter when he appeared at an inquest into the death of Takeshi Sakai, who died when a 4WD Mr Nukutou was driving overturned on Fraser Island's eastern beaches on December 13. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Mr Nukutou told Brisbane Coroner's Court this morning he was shown a driver training video when he and his friends collected the Toyota Landcruiser from Aussie Trax car hire in Hervey Bay. </p><p> </p><p>But he did not understand "100 per cent" because his grasp of English was limited, he said. </p><p> </p><p>Mr Nukutou, who from time to time leaned over and placed his head in his hands, said he was asked to drive the hired Toyota Landcruiser to take he and seven other tourists along Fraser Island's beaches because he had a manual licence and was the only one confident driving the large vehicle. </p><p> </p><p>He had driven a 4WD in Japan but only on snow, never on the beach. </p><p> </p><p>Mr Nukutou said the vehicle had been hired in his and Mr Sakai's names but that Mr Sakai did not want do any driving. </p><p> </p><p>"He was scared of driving a big car so I drove," Mr Nukutou said. </p><p> </p><p>He admitted to drinking the night before the crash and not getting to bed until 1am that morning. </p><p> </p><p>He told the court he noticed the vehicle's steering wheel had pulled in the opposite direction when he drove it to collect friends from a bus stop the day before the fatal accident. </p><p> </p><p>"When I turned to the left the car turned to go to the right," he said. </p><p> </p><p>He also said he was not told to lower the tyre pressure of the vehicle before driving on sand, but saw other four wheel drive owners doing so on the boat to the island and so he and his friends altered the pressure of their tyres. </p><p> </p><p>"We tried the other tyres [of other cars] with our feet and then we tried on our car and they felt the same," he said. </p><p> </p><p>Mr Nukutou was permitted by Coroner Michael Barnes to avoid answering some questions about the accident so as not to incriminate himself. </p><p> </p><p>His lawyer Cameron Browne told the court his client had only been released from hospital on Sunday and was "in a great deal of pain". </p><p> </p><p>Mr Nukutou had been in Australia for two months on a working holiday visa at the time of the accident, having just finished picking fruit in Bundaberg. </p><p> </p><p>There have been 41 serious 4WD accidents on the island between 2003 and 2009, with the majority involving foreign drivers and an even larger portion involving vehicles with more than nine seats. </p><p> </p><p>The government was due to bring in tougher regulations regarding troop-carriers in 2010 but is now considering whether those restrictions need to be further strengthened. </p><p> </p><p>The inquest continues. </p>