A 10-year-old boy was killed after a minivan hit him in the street in front of his home in Oyama, Tochigi Prefecture, on Wednesday night. Police have arrested a 50-year-old man who was driving the minivan on a charge of dangerous driving resulting in death, Fuji TV reported.
According to police, at around 6:45 p.m. on Wednesday, Hakuto Ishikawa was crossing the street and was hit by the minivan coming from his left. There is no crossing at the spot or traffic lights at the spot.
The boy suffered severe head injuries. He was taken to hospital but died four hours later.
Police said the driver, Mitsuharu Yanagizaki, an office employee, told them he was on his way home, NHK reported.
The accident occurred right in front of Hakuto's home.
© Japan Today
16 Comments
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clueless
Poor kid. RIP
Kobe White Bar Owner
Left turns again, RIP little man.
PeaceWarrior
RIP little one.
JT: he was on his way home.
Heat014
Arrest the parents, not the driver, for letting the kid play in the street. Now even if this driver does not go to jail, he has to have the guilt of killing a kid. If the driver was at fault, maybe I would understand, but unless there is any new info, it seems he was a law abiding citizen.
backscratcher
Since when is crossing the street "playing"?
descendent
Ah yes, the "blame the parents" mentality. I hope karma never bites you!
Frederic Bastiat
I fear a similar fate for the kids in my neighborhood. Cars and trucks zip around streets at unsafe speeds for pedestrians. I wish the residents could opt to install speedbumps. The drivers don't grasp the danger that awaits.
Fadamor
No, the minivan was coming from the child's left. There's no indication in the article that he was turning.
Someone from the area might know how dark it is by 6:45? I'm a little farther north in latitude than Oyama, but around here by 6:45 it's dusk - the worst time of the day for drivers to "see and avoid" - too light for the headlights to clearly illuminate objects, but too dark for normal vision to quickly pick up obstacles.
Monozuki
When I was watching the Japanese news on TV, it was already dark and many cars were running with their headlights on. And make matters worse, the visibility appeared to be very poor because of falling snow, though almost no snow being accumulated on the street. Yes, it seemed to make the street very treacherous even for adults to cross the street. Let alone little kids. RIP.
pumpkin31526
Every parents nightmare... Cant begin to imagine the familys grief. Rest in Peace little one.
Mocheake
Read all the comments and the story and I say it's hard to know what truly happened. As someone who drives, cycles and walks quite a lot, I have seen countless times where people walking parallel to the road suddenly turn into the street right in front of my car or bicycle. This is especially the case on narrow roads where there is no sidewalk. Some cars are very quiet and with ambient noise, not paying attention or distraction, the boy may have done just that, giving the driver no way of avoiding hitting him. I have collided with several people on my bicycle and have had to avoid quite a few more while driving. There were no markings for a pedestrian crossing at the site so it may not be a spot where one would expect to see a person crossing the street. Also, was the driver speeding? Any tire marks on the road? They just arrest someone in cases like this before they even do a real investigation and he is blamed immediately. I am not defending the guy but, in general, kids and adults alike pay very little attention to what is going on around them in public areas. Hope the cops do a thorough investigation. RIP to the young boy. Tough situation all around.
kurisupisu
Walking on a crossing last week with the signal in my favor, a minivan drove right up to after going through a red light ! It unnerved me to the point of me taking his number and contacting his company. Junctions are where a lot of accidents happen-I get tired of having to wonder if I may get killed crossing the road here ....
smithinjapan
Not enough detail to make a real comment on the issue, except to say I feel horrible for the family, and RIP to the little boy. The driver who killed him can't be feeling to hot either, although again with no detail it's hard to say whether or not it is his fault. The roads are not at all safe in many places here, and you need to be extra safe when crossing them. But kids will be kids -- for all we know he ran out in front of the car (and at 6:45 it's either dark or getting there).
DaDude
You know in Japan, the driver even gets arrested if they hit someone running across an expressway. He was going to get arrested whether he had the right-of-way or not.
nandakandamanda
Yes, they told me in driving school here that if you are in a moving vehicle, you already bear some blame for anything that happens.
Hasan Az-Zaki Rahim
A 10-year-old boy was killed after a minivan hit him in the street in front of his home in Oyama, Tochigi Prefecture, on Wednesday night. Police have arrested a 50-year-old man who was driving the minivan on a charge of dangerous driving resulting in death, Fuji TV reported.
Sad news!
No matter what happened it was, I would say that this little young boy was innocent so I won't blame him for his fault!