7 year-old boy hit and killed by truck; driver arrested

The whole "Left turn while on red" thing is a death trap. Because the cars are supposed to give way to crossing pedestrians, but very often dont. I was hit on my bike once while crossing the road (at a zebra crossing with a green man) because the driver just did not stop. He "assumed I would" ... even though I had right of way.

IF the police actually enforced the laws of the road and fined the breakers of said laws, they' clear Japan's national date in next to no time at all.

@hereforever,

The story doesn't offer enough info

The child was on a crossing. Thanks to how the signals work, cars turning into the road being crossed by the pedestrian share that real estate with her/him.

In principle, people on foot or bicycles (who are largely at the edge of drivers' peripheral vision, and often on the wrong side of utility poles) have right of way.

The practice is very, very different, with pedestrians having to compete with cars for that piece of the road.

I hope the panel reviewing truck safety recommends the re-programming of traffic signals to allow a pedestrian-only interval during each phase, I'm tired of reading tragic stories and pathetic excuses.

cars especially with ADACHI KU plates are very notorious in disregarding pedestrian lanes and turning left without slowing down. Maybe this guy is from Adachi ku.

So many people here in Japan (but not only here) view traffic laws more as flexible guidelines than regulations. Apparently a red light doesn't mean stop, it means hurry through the intersection before somebody gets in your way. I've seen it so many, many, many times. After the light changes, I wait for the one or two vehicles to run it (sometimes well after it changes to red) before I start to cross.

The whole "Left turn while on red" thing is a death trap

It's illegal to turn left on a red here.

Traffic lights are only a guide in Japan. Try crossing route 6 on green light for pedestrians, drivers wave at the policemen as they go through red lights. It's a joke.

Truck drivers - don't even get me started!

Again.

If anything else in the worrld was the direct cause of so much death, destruction and horror we would surely do something about it, right? So, why don`t we?

It`s much too easy, wherever we are, to find recent tragic stories just like this one. We know that tomorrow there will be more. How can this be acceptable?

Could it be that automobile culture has shaped the world we live in to the point where it has become impossible for people to imagine any other way of living?

We seem to be as cluelessly satisfied as the goldfish in a fishbowl that can`t possibly imagine the existance of any better way of life - like streams and rivers and lakes.

Why is everyone so quick to blame cars and drivers. The story doesn't offer enough info, like was it a highway or a narrow side street, was the 7 years old accompanied by an adult, if not why, was the driver speeding, did he go through a red light or fail to stop at a stop sign, etc. I have seen so many posts by JT readers about how reckless, pedestrians are. I am most confident that the driver is most saddened by killing a child. Yes, he made a terrible mistake and should have been more careful. I'm should it'll eat him up inside for the rest of his life. We can say should've, could've, would've all day but in the end a child is dead. To parents, teach your children to be more careful outside. There are too many time where I have to slam on my brakes because some kid, even mothers on bikes, just dart out from a corner. And Japan has lots of them. Educate people, educate!!!