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Relatives of two children and a pregnant woman who were killed on April 23, 2012, when a car hit a group of elementary school children and adults in Kameoka, Kyoto Prefecture, gathered at the scene on Saturday to offer prayers and place flowers.
Seven other children were seriously hurt when the car, driven by an 18-year-old youth without a license, crashed into the nine youngsters and one adult.
Yukihi Matsumura, 26, who was seven months pregnant, Nao Yokoyama, 8, and Mao Odani, 7, were killed in the incident which happened at around 8 a.m. as the children were being taken to school. Matsumura's unborn baby also died in the incident.
The children and Matsumura were walking along the side of a curved one-way road when the minicar failed to make a left curve and hit them.
The driver and his two passengers had been joyriding since the night before. He told police that he dozed off at the wheel. He was sentenced to eight years in prison in February 2013.
The driver's two passengers -- two 18-year-old youths -- were also arrested because they knew their friend did not have a driver's license and did nothing about it.
© Japan Today
16 Comments
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Paul
Eight years is tooooooo lenient for ruining so many lives!!!
virusrex
Difficult to think it has been 10 years already, the sheer amount of negligence and irresponsibility from the driver and his friends really left a mark.
Spitfire
RIP.
Such a sad story.
Hope the driver manages to rehabilitate himself.
After all.......he is a free man now,while his victims aren't.
3RENSHO
"He was sentenced to eight years in prison in February 2013."
Has the driver served his sentence?
Has he been released from prison?
Is he still joyriding since the night before?
PTownsend
Let this be a reminder to all drivers to be ever vigilant when behind the wheel. As a no-longer a car driver or owner, pedestrian I am alarmed at how careless so many drivers are. I know your vehicle is more powerful than I am, you do not have to remind me.
Making street situations even worse in my part of Kansai is the lack of sufficient parking spaces and the lack of parking enforcement, made even worse these days with all the delivery drivers (another curse of Amazon) parking in places that block the views of pedestrians and other vehicle drivers, including at intersection corners.
I also wonder how many drivers need to get an updated eye exam, maybe a new prescription, noticing so many squint while driving, and not just on sunny days.
I am looking forward to driverless cars. I do not trust most vehicle drivers, and seeing so many do reckless things hope driverless cars replace most of you, including taxi drivers, even some bus and truck drivers. I know everyone has schedules to meet, but being late should not be a reason to run a red light or not stop at an intersection, or speed through a residential area. I prefer bicycle riders, but so many have little concern for others on the roads and sidewalks, still thanks, nevertheless for not polluting the air.
Mocheake
Arrested, and...nothing?
rainyday
This would mean he has already been walking free for some time now.
Cases like this really do make one support the argument for lowering the age if legal adulthood to 18.
Mr Kipling
8 years? Should have been executed.
dan
8 yrs ....He should have done life .
Disgusting .
Speed
Took 4 lives (including the unborn baby) and seriously injured seven kids, whom I'm sure suffered some long term effects still being felt today.
He should've gotten at least 20 years. He's already been out two years. That's a bit hard to swallow.
kibousha
That blue line and those rubber/plastic stoppers are probably the measures the local government came up with to prevent further accidents.
NOMINATION
Actually the 8 years is pretty rare anyways since 18 was considered a "minor" by Japan law. I hope the passengers got something too.
El Rata
So the scumbag is already out. I hope the the fathers of the dead children pay him a visit, gnomesayin'.
smithinjapan
8 years for four people killed -- that's 2 years per life. Good old Japan. And the other two in the car? Can't even be named. Now he can go for another joyride and kill a few more.... maybe get out by the time he's forty to do it all again. If the driver was 18 (it doesn't clarify -- just that the other two were 18, but since NONE of them are named here let's assume he was) at the time, and let's say he lives to be 80, and kills four people every eight years, by Japanese law he'd be permitted to kill 15.5 people -- and if they're all the average age of those killed in his first accident, and THEY would have otherwise all lived to be 80, that would be an average of 1,069.5 years of life he took away.
Now, all that said, why the need to print every single anniversary of every single thing that happens here? Wasn't it just the 5th, 7th, and who knows what other anniversary of other things last week? I'm not saying these things should ever be forgotten, but leave the grieving and remembrance for the most part to those involved.
Chiniquy
Where I live, there is a major traveled road, that has broken middle lane lines, that allow passing, around a curve where you cannot see un-coming vehicles.
I just assume that whatever department allowed this; believe that all the drivers in Japan, have enough common sense not to try and pass another vehicle at this curve.