6-year-old boy injured in hit-and-run; dump truck driver arrested

If he stopped his truck and went back immediately does that constitute a hit and run?

Why must people compete with cars for real estate?

Altering the signals to give people a safe window - with the crossing entirely to themselves - won't crash the economy.

Really vague article. It could be that the truck driver only drove a few seconds before stopping, then going back, or the truck driver could have driven for an hour, then gone back.

If he stopped his truck and went back immediately does that constitute a hit and run?

I was thinking the same thing. This wasn't a hit and run..because he went back

It's more likely that the police just needed to arrest him for SOMETHING, given that he hit the boy, so this is the least that would stick.

Very misleading indeed. Better not to condemn someone as a hit-and-runner, especially since he returned to the place of the incident as soon as he noticed something was wrong (according to his statement at least).

The number of times I have given way to cars on a pedestrian crossing to avoid being injured are more than I can count! Conversely, I have had to brake fiercely to avoid those people that walk into the road without looking first......

SenseNotSoCommon: >Altering the signals to give people a safe window...>

There were no signals at the intersection.

Additionally, the driver dragged the boy's bicycle 460 meters before stopping to investigate, whereupon he returned to the scene of the collision.

My guess is that this old dude was not careful enough, but also what the heck is a 6 YEAR OLD doing out at 5 pm by himself?? That is still KINDERGARTEN AGE!! Stupid, useless parents there in SAITAMA!!! But I do hope the little boy gets better soon!

If he returned to the scene as soon as he discovered the bike, it's highly likely that he didn't realise that he had hit someone. There may well be a case against him for dangerous driving or something similar but hit-and-run is an appalling crime and that designation really ought to be reserved for people who knowingly commit it. Hope the young boy makes a full recovery.

When will Japan change those pedestrian crossing crossed by cars coming from the other side of the streets because they have the right to turn ? Most of the time, it is safer to cross when you should not simply because at least you know that cars are expecting to come....they should really check the most dangerous location and change it to a 3 phases signals when the 3rd phases is a stop to all cars (from all direction) for a safe crossing by pedestrian.

Hang on! He went back to the scene after he stopped his truck and was arrested. This tells you there must have been a fair amount of time between the accident and when he returned if the police were already there, doesn't it?

Brians, how do you know it was 460 meters? it does not say this in the news article, but 460 meter I would describe that as a hit and run as it is quite a away from the accident.

I find "hit and run" a little hard to believe as well, as he did return to the scene. If it were 460 meters, there could be quite some distance between lights, so it wouldn't be hard to travel 460 meters. Plus, once the driver found it safe to exit his truck to see what the thump-thump* sound was coming from his front wheel, he went back to the scene to report or to see what he hit. my understanding of "hit and run" usually consists of a final line in such articles, such as, "police are looking for a large, dark brown dump truck with damage to its front bumper."

460m is from Japanese news.

Also that the driver thought he hit another car, not a kid, and went back after he found the bike. If Google translate is correct. (「ぶつかった音がしたが、他の車だと思った」と供述しています。)

If he heard the dragging noise for that far he should have stopped sooner.

Google search for 八潮市埼玉県 ダンプトラック (Yaisho-shi Saitama-ken dump truck):

http://tinyurl.com/m7dbc5x