14-year-old boy hit and killed by truck on street crossing

No surprising, every day (not exaggerating) I need to stop halfway across a crossing to let a car in front of me because they can’t stand to wait the 5 seconds it would take to let me pass.

Is this yet another vehicle turning left on green while the pedestrians also have a green?

For such a "safety" conscious country this has always baffled me. Especially when I found the reason behind it... Its to give pedestrians MORE time to cross.... or as in so many cases...more time to get injured or killed.

Yes - the key piece of missing information here is "What was the status of the traffic light?"

Did the boy cross on green or red?

Did the driver cross on green or red?

Did - as Mr Kipling asked - the driver turn on green while the boy crossed on the same green?

Never understand why such articles often don't include critical details.

Saw no less than three small trucks speed through lets that had already turned red, all on the corner with a police station. People have learned to wait a good three or four seconds after the light turns green to start crossing, although we shouldn't have to. Police here only seem to want to act for the mandatory traffic safety week, and then after there are corpses.

Euro Dude: "BTW, why do you have to raise your hand to cross the street on a designated place for you??"

Because people here like to think laws don't apply to them. These old signals are from the ages before signal lights, or for bicycles on busy roads.

Mr Kipling

Is this yet another vehicle turning left on green while the pedestrians also have a green?

Why not? That is legal, as long as there is no pedestrian in the way. In this case, alas there was.

Never understand why such articles often don't include critical details.

I might be new here, but I can see that's how things are done around here.

euro dude:

Not sure how other cities are, but in Tokyo no driver will stop at pedestrian crossing.

True. Pedestrians in Japan should NEVER rely on the pedestrian lights. Wait until the car slows down and stops. And forget about crossings with no lights. Most drivers do not stop which begs the questions, Why bother having crossings? A waste of paint. Using the crossings is no different to jay-waking.

6pm is dark so a traffic light should be very visible with no glare.

Snow and ice can cover up road markings, like tomare for stop and the diamonds for a regular pedestrian crossing (where noone stops anyway), but this place had a traffic light, so driver error seems likely. As mentioned above, this is more likely when turning onto a green at a junction through a pedestrian crossing which is also on green.

Raising your hand makes you taller.

Law says drivers have to stop.

They definitely stop when you bang their car hard with your fist.

Run the other way. They are scary road ragers

@brownie1, add to your list, was the boy wearing earphones from his smart phone?, I come across it daily, joggers, walkers and cyclists are totaly oblivious to there surroundings.

@Psmith

Law says drivers have to stop.

They definitely stop when you bang their car hard with your fist.

I was intended to paste in, push off their cars when they enter the crosswalk when you are using it, not bang it.

They definitely stop when you push off it. Something went wrong with my copy and paste from my memos folder. Still getting used to the new iPad Air.

Hope I did not offend you at all.

Aomori... Very icy and snow built up everywhere blocks the view of drivers and pedestrians. Accidents inevitable in these conditions. Not saying this was the case here but this was especially mentioned. Sad story.

Even if the driver is at fault, acting aggressively towards to the driver of the vehicle will not endear you to the police.

Many replies on Japantoday are based on which information? At least in this article there is no mention about truck turning a corner. It mentioned snow on the traffic lights.

The driver is always wrong unless different is proven.

Most reactions here are agressive without any good content. Just assumptions.

If I was a cop in Japan, I'd be making my area rich from all the tickets for this nonsense I'd write. It's been my experience here that people generally don't stop for pedestrians; even though they're trained to stop.

I watched a schoolgirl waiting over a full minute to cross a two-lane street (no lights). It was early afternoon, everything and everybody completely visible, no obstructions, no reasons not to stop for her. But no one would.

Is it willful ignorance? Entitlement? Your guess is as good as mine...

I live in Oirase and this occurred just around the corner from my house. I don't know the full situation but I can say this, when the weather starts getting bad, the drivers here get worse. They already run stop lights, stop signs, drive in your lane (because they cant wait), don't follow proper protocol at intersections, etc. I personally believe they know what they are doing because even when they almost cause an accident, they act like they did nothing wrong. You hardly ever see JNP around, and when you do, they aren't doing anything, even when it happens right in front of them. I've been planning on buying a new car this year and this one will have a drive recorder installed just for my safety and insurance purposes.

Sadly, I can relate to this. About 4 years ago, after days after Christmas, a cousin-in-law of mine was struck by a truck and killed. Her family was ready to blame the truck driver, but signal camera showed that she was listening to music without looking while crossing on a no crossing path. I'm not sure what happened to the driver, but he had the right of way and tried to slow down, but it was too late. Everyone - Please LOOK before crossing. It was a shock to everyone.

Driving requires awareness of your sorroundings and thinking outside of the box on a changing environment, skills that most native Japanese lack due to most being used to perform repetitive tasks, they are bad drivers not out of malicious intent like in the west, but because they are inherently dumb at being behind the wheel which made them more dangerous in my opinion.

Poor boy, I hope his family find peace eventually.

Drivers be careful out there!

Tragic, we can only hope this is an Isekai dream come true. がんばて