4-year-old boy dies after being hit by truck outside supermarket

Tragic, the truck driver needs to pay for his gross negligence.

Zero blame should be cast on the mom, short of putting a child on a leash, there's just no way one is going to prevent a small child from running and being active without precautions.

@oldman

Maybe you are too old and you can't remember anymore. As someone has written before, you always need to hold hands with kids in a parking area.

What I also noticed is that Japanese people act like they are dead from the neck up when it comes to parking areas. They walk around like they were in an amusement park. Kids running around blissfully unaware of traffic around them, and adults stroll like being on a sightseeing tour.

I have a 4 year old and am extremely careful when out in front of public especially when cars are around. I see kids far to far from their parent way to often like the parent expect nothing bad can happen. Heywa bokei indeed. RIP little one! Yes accidents happen but many can be prevented by being careful and practicing common sense.

Fast forward 10 years. Whoever is eventually held responsible for this is out of jail and living life normally. What are the chances they would end up doing the same thing?

Driver: exactly the same

Mother: 0%

Why? Because the driver cannot control what other people do and the mother will have learned to properly care for her kid.

I'm not suggesting the mother be penalized - she's suffered enough, but the driver shouldn't be (unless he was driving recklessly)

Mother apparently at fault at least partially.

Truck driver : situation to be assessed. He may be largely or not at all at faul.

No one can see a 4 year old running coming to your vehicle before it is too late, even if driving at 15 km/h.

Basic lesson any adult has learnt normally before : no running where moving vehicles (or any dangerous location).

RIP little angel.

Another horrible tragedy. Clearly the boy should not have been allowed to run into a parking lot, but I have seen many a driver going entirely too fast in parking lots or even residential streets with children nearby. If pedestrians are not on a sidewalk then drivers must go SLOWLY to prevent accidents.

Tragedy, but the mother should be the one arrested for gross negligence and child endangerment. I've seen this a million times, very unlikely the truck driver's fault at all, kids come darting out of nowhere unexpectedly, he was unlucky, wrong place wrong time. Japan needs to place responsibility on the negligent parents.

zichiToday  01:07 pm JST

I even take the wife by the arm when in those dangerous spaces. Also when crossing roads. Cars stop or slow down when I do that.

Thanks for the tip!

Hard to tell who is at fault simply by reading this article. But in Japan the driver is by default at fault. Perhaps that is the issue and why there are many pedestrians and cyclists that act the way they do and essentially put their lives at the mercy of motorists.

Zero blame should be cast on the mom, short of putting a child on a leash, there's just no way one is going to prevent a small child from running and being active without precautions.

I don’t know about that, parents also have a duty to stop their kids from running around in a dangerous environment like a parking lot. Just an hour ago I was at the supermarket with my two kids and I was watching them like hawks and ensuring they never got out of my reach when we were walking through the parking.

I’m not saying the mom should be punished, she is suffering way worse than anything in the world right now, but as a principle I think parents should be under a strong duty if supervision in that type of situation.

This shouldn’t absolve the truck driver of responsibility if he was negligent.

The boy had been at the supermarket with his mother. As they were exiting the store, the boy ran ahead and was hit by the truck turning left onto a ramp going up to the multilevel parking area.

None of us were there, but it seems to me the mother is as guilty or more than the driver. You do not let a 4-year old run ahead in a parking area. Quite possible the driver never had a chance to stop.

In a car parking, or anywhere near cars, our 3 years old doesn’t go anywhere without holding hands with me or my wife. And my wife (Japanese) is absolutely strict about this

Ditto baktaka. Japan, by default, faults the operator of the larger/stronger vehicle. ex: truck vs car, car vs bicycle, bicycle vs pedestrian. This is wrong. Japanese justice and law enforcement need to grow up. (1) as others have posted, the driver can't control what others do, i.e., darting out in front of them, and thus, shouldn't automatically be arrested. Stupid. (2) Where does Japan get off calling drivers, because they have a license and drive over to see their aunt and uncle or go somewhere, "professional"? Geeze

I know most people don't want to hear this, but this is on the mother... Unfortunately the driver will be blamed and haunted for the rest of his life by something that could have been prevented...

Seems the majority do want to hear that the mother is at fault. By the law, the driver is at fault, but that does little good to the victim and his family. I constantly tell my kids to never trust cars will do the right thing, and to be on the lookout for those small trucks in particular. I'm pretty sure we've read about several fatal accidents involving small trucks in the past month alone.

They should arrest the mother for letting her four year old run through a supermarket car park.

Slow down!!! Especially those guys in the white trucks. And especially while going around a corner in a car park.

Of course the mom should have had the boys hand, but she probably had grocery bags in both?? But still, if the guy had been driving at a safe speed and on the look out for pedestrians, he probably could have slammed on the brakes and not killed the boy.

Guys I don't know if you have noticed but @oldman is being sarcastic here:

Tragic, the truck driver needs to pay for his gross negligence. 

Zero blame should be cast on the mom, short of putting a child on a leash, there's just no way one is going to prevent a small child from running and being active without precautions.

Just saying.

As they were exiting the store, the boy ran ahead and was hit by the truck turning left onto a ramp going up to the multilevel parking area.

Sounds lkke the truck driver had absolutely no time to react because of how close the kid ran out front of the truck, which resulted in the kid getting hit. The truck was already in motion. the mother is 100% at fault here. Any parent should know to hold your kid's hand in a parking lot.