Ibaraki man arrested for dangerous driving after hitting 4 people, including 2 kids

I hope this family gets back to 100% quickly! Sumiya should have his license revoked forever and be sentenced to caring for disabled people due to "negligence" like this.

Thank god no one was killed!!!

Did anybody read my post in the 'DNA suicide link' thread about frontal lobe development? Here is another reason to believe it! Just no common-sense at all!

Is that the standard quota before you get arrested for dangerous driving???

While I know the driver is at fault, this is another example of why sidewalks are a real good idea. There are too many roads in Japan without sidewalks, and cars and busses have no where to go if people or bicycles are on the side of the road. Build more sidewalks and fewer airports for goodness sake!

the wonders of the Japanese road planners. Metropolitan areas have wide ample footpaths and the suburbs get a 10cm while line separating the 15cm footpath from the road.

this is another example of why sidewalks are a real good idea.

Your argument that 'sidewalks', a necessity in Japan, should be built in favour of other projects shows your lack of understanding for historic nations like that of Japan. Unlike the US, where the block system is prevalent, Japan, as a nation was formed much before the car. Cities here, like in Europe, that were constructed hundreds if not thousands of years ago, had to adapt to the introduction of the car. The states, on the other hand did not. For this reason, it is not always possible to add pavements to some roads.

The lack of footpaths in country areas in Japan makes it difficult for pedestrians and drivers - but people should slow down in such streets. It's hard to correct this issue when the buildings are right on the edge of the road. FWIW I've seen places in the US, Australia and other countries where no allowance has been made for footpaths, but the buildings in such areas generally aren't right on the edge of the road.

I do agree that drivers should slow down in areas without sidewalks, or if there are people walking on the side of the road. That would definitely prevent a lot of accidents. That and not talking on the cellphone while driving.

Hopefully the mom and daughter recover quickly and fully!

It just takes a split second of carelessness and your whole world and the worlds of the people you hurt are turned upside down. Sumiya could be the sweetest guy ever but had a careless moment, or he could be as daft as they come and should never have been granted a license. Just hope that family are all going to be ok!

Oh, and namabiru4me: It probably would not exactly be a good thing to have a negligent person take care of the disabled.

The driver, in all liklihood, was busy texting, and speeding, and smoking. He may have also had a small animal in his lap with it`s head out the drivers side window.

When are people going to understand that they operating a dangerous piece of machinery; it requires skill and vigilence.

Was he talking on his cellphone ??? When I walk in rural areas with no sidewalks...I walk facing the cars and horseback riders...never can tell...the driver should be forced to work in the morgue...attaching toe tags to the deceased of careless acts

I wish there were barriers of some sort between the walking area and the road. If the road is too narrow, then vehicles or pedestrians should be banned from using it. So many roads here. I'd prefer less of higher quality.

Thanks Whitepocky, your brilliant insights have made me rethink my whole view of the lack of sidewalks problem here. Thanks.

Whitepocky, apparently you think there were no roads in the U.S. until the introduction of automobiles in the late 1800's. On the contrary, roads have been there since the 1600's that allowed horse and cart access within the cities. Japan just decided not to use the "block" system of access where the U.S. did. Japan has painted themselves into a corner now that the population is so dense that it would be almost impossible to re-design the street layouts without impacting/relocating a large number of people when their homes are demolished to make room for wider streets/sidewalks.

Was he talking on his cellphone ???

I always find it funny that people have been so influenced by the government pounding this into the thick skulls of society. Why not blame a radio or eating or people watching? As many people as I see driving with a cellphone every day (roughly 1/4 of people in morning traffic), I shouldn't be able to get to work in one piece. Cell phones are not that dangerous while driving. They are simply an easy excuse and society likes when the blame can be so easy.

The driver, in all liklihood, was busy texting, and speeding, and smoking.

Ok... texting is understandably BAD. Way different from chatting on the phone which is akin to listening to the radio. Or drinking your drink. Or smoking your cig.

... chatting on the phone which is akin to listening to the radio.

Hardly! A phone conversation requires much more attention than listening to the radio, more even than chating with someone beside you. Have you never seen anyone chatting on the phone and practically oblivious to what's going on around them?

Whitepocky, I see them tearing down and rebuilding homes in my neighborhood all the time, making houses bigger and not leaving much room for making a sidewalk. So yes Japan may be older than the US, but autos came around and hit the world pretty much at the same time. It just seems that not much has been done in not just making more roads but better planning. I imagine that this area was not in an historical area where there are major roads and many convi stores, yet no one had the idea of putting in a sidewalk.

I wish there were barriers of some sort between the walking area and the road.

I don't know about other parts of Japan, but where I worked in Ibaraki most of the "major" roads had a concrete kerb at the edges of the road, broken only by driveways. This was why in heavy traffic, people would actually give way to someone turning across their path because otherwise the traffic behind would stop and have no way to pass the turning car.

So in a lot of cases there was some minor barrier between the road and the edge, but not enough to stop a car easily jumping it. But in older areas or outside built up areas, there was generally no barrier, kerb or footpath. And some of the "major" roads were less than two lanes wide.

Given that there was no evidence I could see of zoning in terms of land use, expecting allowances to be made for pedestrians is probably unrealistic. I imagine it must be extremely expensive for the government to resume land to widen roads.

Whitepocky, apparently you think there were no roads in the U.S. until the introduction of automobiles in the late 1800's. On the contrary, roads have been there since the 1600's that allowed horse and cart access within the cities. Japan just decided not to use the "block" system of access where the U.S. did.

On the contrary, I was just stating that younger nations like the US and Australia took advantage of the fact that they could PLAN their cities, unlike older nations in Europe and Asia where many towns and cities grew unorganised over a longer period of time!!