68-yr-old woman killed in hit-and-run at pedestrian crossing in Yamanashi

Please catch this POS. Hit and run, no excuse what so ever!

The truck kept going toward the Tsuru interchange of the expressway.

I hope there are cameras at the entrance to the Expresway. If there are, then this person's ass is grass!

They should have a pic. Every car on the Express-ways is getting their pics taken.

Using those check-points police can tell when & where a car entered and exited the expressway.

Saw a semi-trailer truck hit a K-car head on during the snowstorms in Kansai. The car had its front end almost ripped off, but luckily the driver inside was fine. The truck had pulled into the opposing lane of traffic to get past a stalled car and it was totally the truck driver's fault, so he just kept on driving after the totalling the car.

Actually, it was kind of amazing that he could keep momentum while going uphill, during a snowstorm, after a head-on collision. Watch out for those trucks, many of them do not care at all for other drivers and their cars.

Truck drivers in Japan are true maniacs. They make bus and taxi drivers seem very kind. They are the worst of the worst!

this is why i wait a little bit after looking both ways before crossing, maniacs like this are all over Japan, it's just really sad children and elderly get hit the most. One of my friends was hit recently on her bicycle crossing a road, luckily she wasn't hit hard.

This POS, as Mike down in Okinawa says, needs to be arrested ASAP! I wish they would give the death penalty to these drunk ruthless $!$@$#^!!! Japanese truck drivers!!! Drive near Yokota on RT.16 and make sure to stay away from those big trucks I saw a tv show with under cover Japanese reporters filming Japanese truckers drinking shochu, etc..to try and sleep then taking pills to wake up and DRIVE AGAIN!!!

a vehicle resembling a small truck

The emergency call came at 8 p.m. so I would think it was still bright enough for the witness to come up with a better description than "resembling a small truck". Was it a truck? A pick-up truck? A pick-up truck with a shell over the bed? A van? Come ON people!

Hit and run, no excuse what so ever!

Sometimes there is, but in this case, I think not.

I say this because Japan is notorious for blaming and jailing and financially destroying drivers who were clearly not at fault and were nice enough to stick around even though the pedestrian was clearly deceased and not coming back.

But in this case it seems like the old woman was crossing at a crosswalk on a green. Admittedly, it can be hard to notice pedestrians and the system in place is less than ideal, but everyone should know by now to watch out when making a turn.

The emergency call came at 8 p.m. so I would think it was still bright enough

Not in Yamanashi, no. I am sure darkness was a contributing factor in the accident, as well as the simple fact that there is a blind spot in all vehicles that makes it very difficult to see slow moving pedestrians in the crosswalk when making a turn. That blindspot can be very large depending on the vehicle. I always felt the system of having the pedestrian and vehicle lights go green at the same time was a little nutty. Pedestrians should get a head start or something.

You know how many times i,ve experienced and seen cars and trucks go straight through pedestrian crossings even when the green walk sign is on ?? Hundreds of times I,m surprised this kind of thing doesn,t happen more often....

This is a tragedy to say the least...but with the state law enforcement when it comes to traffic violations, hit and RUN is the norm. For all we know the driver could have had the right of way...but again with the current set of laws...need I say more?

S

Spidey is right. I thought the article indicated she had a green light. She might well have been hobbling through a red, at dark or near dark, in dark clothing stooped over and all that. But they will put full blame on the driver anyway for not having the infra-red vision of a D&D elf! Is it any surprise they don't stick around just to be made an example of for something that may well not be their fault? The whole point seems to be to instill fear in the drivers in Japan, not to give the people in the accident justice.

It is a true shame, and a little scary since that is quite close to where I live, but I would also like to point out that besides the truck drivers being a crazy around here, a lot of older ladies seem to like to just go when they feel like it.

From the brief article, it seems like this woman was in the right, but I have seen a number of old folks just ride their bikes or stroll out into an intersection while not having the right of way... more then once I have expected to see a person die in front of me, and once the person crossing even created a car accident from them avoiding her, from which the little old woman just casually kept riding.

Also, Iwitness is absolutely correct, because of the mountains all around us, it starts to get dark fairly early here.