crime

Woman killed in hit-and-run in Gunma

17 Comments

A woman was struck and killed by a vehicle on a road in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, on Sunday night, police said Monday.

The incident occurred around 11 p.m., police said. Another motorist saw the woman lying on the road and stopped to call police at 11:10 p.m.

Paramedics rushed the victim, Atsuko Otsuka, to the hospital where she was pronounced dead at 12:15 a.m. Monday. Police said that Otsuka worked in a convenience store and was apparently walking home when she was hit. The speed limit on the road is 40 kph.

Police are appealing for anyone who might have seen the vehicle that hit Otsuka to come forward.

© News reports

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17 Comments
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I have to agree totally with Richard the First. Well said.

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Fadamor said: Ever have a snowball or other kind of ball hit your car while you were driving? Even glancing blows make a very audible "thunk".

Not if they hit the bumper or glance off the tire they don't.

But I will offer you an apology. I mispoke when I said its not that speeders kill people. I should have said that speeders don't kill pedestrians so much. They do, but not as much as pedestrians get themselves killed. Sorry for my poor choice of words. You are correct that speeders get people in other cars killed. I was just focused on pedestrians.

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Pedestrians are crazy at times. Cars are highly predictable, noisy objects, that rarely change direction suddenly. People on the other hand, do. Just last week, I was turning right at an intersection and a woman decided that she would try to run in front of my car to make the crossing, as it had just turned red for her, but I was already mid turn. I hit the brakes, and thankfully didn't hit her. Legally, I was in the wrong as we must yield at all times, and she was on the crosswalk but it doesn't absolve her of her stupidity. I think its part of the reason why hit and runs are common here as drivers know what will happen to them if they so much as graze a pedestrian.

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Ever have a snowball or other kind of ball hit your car while you were driving? Even glancing blows make a very audible "thunk".

Actually, the video I'm thinking of doesn't involve pedestrians at all. It DOES involve the speeding car that initiated the accident and the truck and other passenger car that were involved. The driver of the speeding car lost control while trying to whip around the truck. Eight dead from one speeder (including the perp).

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Fadamor, a blow to the head with a hammer can kill. A car can deliver that same force and the driver not even know. Yes, if a car strikes a 100 pound object FULLY they will know. But a glancing blow can kill and the driver may not know. What happened here we can only guess. Odds are the driver did know, yes. But those are odds, not facts.

As for speeders killing people, yes, it does happen when their speeding causes them to go up on the sidewalk. But even when their speeding causes them to run a red light or take a turn too fast the pedestrian MUST be unaware of their surroundings when crossing the street to get hit. Avoiding getting hit is easy if you are paying attention. Show me such a Youtube video and I will show pedestrians not paying attention on the road as if 1 ton steel boxes of death were not buzzing around. I do not condone speeding. But I condone willy-nilly pedestrians on the road even less because they have every power to save themselves.

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MistWizard - nice attempt to absolve the driver, but you FAIL. A car or truck striking a 100 lb object is going to create a noticable "bump" to the driver. Regardless of whether the driver was driving drunk and recklessly or obeying every rule of the road up to that point, THEY DID NOT STOP. They are now a criminal.

Seriously, its not that speeders kill people. Its that people who don't speed save pedestrians from their own carelessness!

No. Seriously, it IS that speeders kill people EVERY FREAKING DAY. It happens so often that there are YouTube videos of it online.

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Interesting that we don't know what happened but many are quick to blame the driver for the accident. We can't even blame the driver for fleeing because we don't know if the driver was aware he hit her. In fact, the cause of death is not even clearly evidenced above! The only known witness is dead!

But if I were a betting man I would bet that the woman got herself hit because that is the way it usually plays out. Even when people are speeding, a pedestrian truly has to be in la-la land to get hit on the road. Don't you look before you go out onto the road? Do cars come out of nowhere? Are they quiet as a ninja?

I think some of you are operating under the passionate delusion that since she is dead, its the driver's fault. But what are you going to do if some woman jumps in front of your car suddenly? You got a Speed Racer jump button on your steering wheel? Seriously, its not that speeders kill people. Its that people who don't speed save pedestrians from their own carelessness!

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Where is the outrage, if this were a US soldier people would be gathering by the hundreds of thousands to protest because only US soldiers hit people and run.

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Rugbyfun, That is why it is called an "accident" It can happen anywhere, Anytime, be it a village, town or city.

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Common because it happened to you? Good logic there.

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I broad sided a car that went through a red light last summer and got knocked out. They never stopped. Seems pretty common here.

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Very country place not alot of street lighting. Some places you need headlights under fog lights and lights on the hood for not off toad but for normal drivers. Lucky gunma doesn't have deer but they should have pedestrian crossing signs. Then people will likely not get runned over.

Still gunma is 10th place behind 1st place winner Saitama./////// I told the police why can't you stop these crazy & wild drivers. The young policewoman and policeman said, " Their to dangerous to bother with !! " We like bicycle & pedestrian walking ( stopping ) patrols, they are so much enjoyables ! " Quote of the day.

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I have lived in Gunma for the last 13 years. I think, on the most part, drivers in Gunma are very courteous but in quiet a lot of cases the skill level is low. And a lot of drivers seem to have no awareness of other vehicles and things around them. In some cases they seem to be in a little world all of their own. I'm surprised the accident happened in Takasaki because generally the roads are quite a bit wider than in other cities.

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Yep, crazy drivers here in Gunma. No surprise.

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Driver should be punished even if he/she was not DUI. We need more N-system all over the country now...

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Sad indeed. If it was a DUI then the driver should be punished. With that said though, and without knowing the full facts of the case, it may have been a simple accident. The law here is draconian in terms of the driver bearing 100% responsibility regardless of the circumstances. He/she should have stopped though and offered assistance.

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Sad indeed. May she rest in peace.

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