Police in Kama, Fukuoka Prefecture, have arrested a 51-year-old man on suspicion of dangerous driving resulting in death and injury after he hit an elderly woman and her husband.
According to police, the incident occurred at around 8 p.m. on Thursday. Broadcaster NTV reported that Keiji Hayashi, a company employee, was driving along a prefectural road when he hit an 83-year-old man and his 77-year-old wife who were on a crosswalk. Both victims were taken to hospital. The woman died just before midnight Thursday, while her husband sustained non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
The crosswalk has no traffic lights. Police said visibility was good at the time.
Police said Hayashi has admitted hitting the couple and quoted him as saying he took his eyes off the road for a few seconds.
© Japan Today
10 Comments
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kurisupisu
Why would it be necessary to take ones eyes off the road?
Could a mobile phone be involved m?
On the highway coming into town yesterday,as a passenger, I noticed about one in 3 drivers on mobile phones.
Its an offense in Japan which the cops have to take more action on…
Lindsay
Gambling is illegal in Japan until you use a pedestrian crossing. Then you gamble with your life. Drivers do not stop at crossings. I’ve had driver swerve around me as I was halfway across the road.
shogun36
idiot.
so what was he looking at for those few seconds? the wonderful stars in the sky?
commanteer
Regarding drivers not stopping at crosswalks, Niigata is worst with only 23.2% of drivers stopping - followed by 26.2% in Saga, 26.7% in Osaka and Fukui, and 27.6% in Ibaraki. https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240315/p2a/00m/0na/037000c
diagonalslip
other than the sudden and probably devastating loss of his wife of perhaps 50 years that is.
proxy
At that time of day it would have been dark. Always wear something reflective and be seen at night.
Mocheake
Which is why my head is on a swivel when I'm in any crosswalk even when I have the green. People can be inattentive, drunk, downright mean and aggressive or whatever. Sometimes, being human, they just make a mistake. RIP to these people.
Logical_Fallacy_Killer
The drivers in Fukuoka are the worst in Japan.
smithinjapan
He'll get two years, if anything. even though it is 100% his fault. Mind you, police don't seem to care if cars obey the lights or crosswalks at all, unless maybe it's traffic safety week and they have to put on a show. The crosswalk outside my home is one of those "scramble" crossings where the lights for pedestrians come on and you can walk in any direction while both sides of traffic are stopped. Filmed it the other day. It's close to a minute each for cars, with the lights for pedestrians coming on FIFTEEN SECONDS after the red light for drivers has come up, and cars whizz through that red light the WHOLE time. In fact, there was a police officer on the corner watching traffic and instead of watching the cars speeding through the red lights while pedestrians were preparing to walk he turned away. Saw me filming and came over and asked what I was doing. When I told him he asked me for ID, where I worked, asked me to empty my bag, asked me why I had two smartphones, called me in, etc. I asked him why he was doing it and he wouldn't answer. Fourth time this year.
So, these old people getting hit and one killed? Could have easily been prevented but again, the police do not care until there's a corpse.