crime

16-year-old girl riding bike hit and killed by truck

21 Comments

A 16-year-old girl died after she was hit by a truck on Wednesday while she was riding a bicycle in Sagamihara City, Kanagawa Prefecture.

According to police, the incident occurred just past 6 p.m. at an intersection in Minami Ward. Fuji TV reported that Yuriko Wakita was on her bike when a heavy-duty truck made a left turn and hit her. She was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

Police have arrested the truck driver, Hirofumi Mizuta, 57, on charges of negligent driving resulting in death.

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21 Comments
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Cell phone or smoking or both. When cars are automated roadside carnage due to human weakness will end. This little girl was ten years before the curve.

-7 ( +2 / -9 )

RIP young girl.

I wonder however what is the age for driving license here? I know in US is 16 and thought here is 18 or am I wrong?

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Since it was an intersection, who was running the red light, or otherwise didn't have right-away? The answer to that question should determine whether an arrest is warranted or not.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

JeffLee

Since it was a left turn, maybe the man in the truck simply didn't see her when she pulled out on the side of him. In my country there's been many campaigns about blind angles in a truck and how bicyclist especially need to be careful in intersections when they are next to trucks. She might have been in one such blind spot.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

zircronium: "Cell phone or smoking or both."

Or neither. Maybe it was the all-too-common case of a cyclist running a red. Maybe both were just racing the light and the girl was riding from the sidewalk. Point is, we don't know. Don't forget, while there are a lot of jerk truck and car drivers out there, there are jerk cyclists, too, but whenever there is an accident the larger of the two vehicles bears the brunt, if not the entirety, of the blame.

In any case, RIP to the girl.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

I would say it was a combination of both the driver and the cyclists fault. Truck drivers in Japan are reckless and swing around corners like they are on a race course. On the other hand, I also see a lot of teenagers on bicycles disregarding safety (and common sense) and they will sit on the corner with their wheels poking out onto the road or even halfway out onto the road making it nearly impossible for cars to get around the corner.

However, there is nowhere near enough information in this article to confirm any speculation. The girl is dead and the truck driver is arrested. A sad day for both.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@bogvaToday

RIP young girl.

I wonder however what is the age for driving license here? I know in US is 16 and thought here is 18 or am I wrong?

The young girl was on a BICYCLE... there's NO age limit for that...

6 ( +6 / -0 )

hmmm further investigation is necessary. many a time i have seen teens running reds, listening to music or watching their phones as they ride, completely oblivious to the dangers around them. its a tragedy, sure, but it may not have been the drivers fault

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

"Truck drivers in Japan are reckless and swing around corners like they are on a race course"

YEs sir..

I saw one back in the day run a red light at suidobashi intersection. It was that big long truck with the huge crane in front. It could have wiped out the crowd about to cross, going to Tokyo Dome Park, but luckily its lane was clear.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

From what I've experienced at junctions where there's a crossing is that the drivers cross the zebra markings with impunity... the green walk sign seems to mean nothing to them. I'm not saying this is what happened but I've been nearly hit a few times when holidaying in Japan... and I always wait for the green man before walking.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Can't tell who is realistically at fault by going strictly by this article. I can say though being both a regular driver and a cyclist that there are tons more dangerous cyclists than drivers on the road. from a legal perspective the driver is always at fault no matter what... from a reality check perspective the loser is always the cyclist.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

RIP Young Girl. Its very sad to know that a young girl was died due to reckless driving of truck driver.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

This is only logical and smart, "Bungle", but I still wonder why did not every civilized country set the rules so. Have only one side, the other should stay. And THIS would have been avoided...

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Truck drivers need to stop driving like go carts

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Not saying the accident is her fault, but it's not difficult to imagine a teenage girl looking at her cellphone while riding. We see it all the time. And accidents are usually the culmination of different factors

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Can't always blame the driver. The article doesn't provide enough info, so you can't just assume that the driver is at fault.

The reason why I say this, is because there have been NUMEROUS times where I have had to come to a literal screeching halt to avoid hitting an elderly person or a child who'd walk right out into the middle of the road right in front of me. In my neighborhood, it's gotten to be such a common occurrence that I am considering buying a dash cam so that if something does happen, I would have some kind of evidence.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Not sure who is at fault here but RIP. So many here cycle like insane maniacs with no care or belief they could get hit. So many drive like they run the road. I hate cycling here, I hate driving here because few seem to have common sense on how they should behave.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I drove my kids to school whenever I was free because I knew what kind of people were driving on the roads. In my area, truck drivers seem to have been involved in most of the fatalities with bicycles (and thinking about it now, they've all been girls). Is it a coincidence? I'm not sure as I've also seen lots of bad drivers in cars, but some (Not all!) of the Japanese truck drivers are pretty rough drivers. At the same time, I've also seen the young, middle-aged and elderly alike do some really careless things while riding their bicycles.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Left hook. This is the most common accident involving a car and a bicycle.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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