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10-yr-old boy, using cell phone, falls off platform at train station

23 Comments

A 5th-grade student fell from the platform of JR Yotsuya station in Tokyo on Monday afternoon.

According to police, the incident occurred at around 4:30 p.m. Sankei Shimbun quoted witnesses as saying that the 10-year-old boy was using his mobile phone when he fell from the platform onto the tracks of the JR Chuo Line just as a train was arriving. Police say he was able to stand in the space between the tracks and the platform and sustained only minor injuries from the train.

JR officials said Chuo Line services were suspended for 35 minutes, affecting 23,000 commuters.

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23 Comments
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More platform barriers needed.

Or perhaps parents could teach their kids some common sense safety when it comes to using their mobile phone?? There is no reason why a 10 year old child should be using a mobile phone while walking along a train platform.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

"Police say he was able to stand in the space between the tracks and the platform and sustained only minor injuries" -- Better use of those lightning reflexes would have been to put his phone in his pocket while walking around a busy train station!

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Lucky little putz! Good to hear he wasn't badly injured.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

With the way many people have their faces buried into whichever device in their hands, I am surprised that this does not happen more often.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Dumb kid....he's lucky! His dad should give him a major arse whopping for that!! But alas...its the shape of things to come..oh wait..already here...drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, students, etc etc..all focused on their dumbphones and missing out on real life.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Frungy said: Or perhaps people could stop assuming that using a cellphone magically deprives you of all sense of balance. Sure the phone is distracting, but it is only a small factor here that is being blown out of all proportion. There were probably other far more important factors, like too many people on the platform and him getting bumped.

Come on man.......you see this everyday..people so focused on their phones that they have NO CLUE as to what is going on around them.

And I'm sure this kid will be doing the same thing in the future too. But lets hope he learned a valuable lesson!

I have no sympathy for people who get hurt / injured from this kind of 100% Preventable stupidity.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Thanks God he's safe. Never mind the delay, people should be thankful of a life not being taken by accident.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Or perhaps parents could teach their kids some common sense safety when it comes to using their mobile phone?? There is no reason why a 10 year old child should be using a mobile phone while walking along a train platform.

No, he's only doing what he see's going on around him... He watches the 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 year old oyaji's do it, monkey see, monkey do... And this is just the tip of the iceburg with what little junior is learning from his seniors...

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Japan have to understand that a "kid" is a kid and they do NOT have sense of dangerous. It is so sad to see small kids as a 6 yrs old taking train by themselves, it's is even cruel.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

yeah well done japan. way to educate your kids. i make it a special point to bump into anyone walking towards me while looking at their phones. they stumble and act like its not their fault.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Reminds me of a story a few years ago of a kid who fell off a platform while using a DS or PSP. He escaped being hit by moving into a hollow space under the platform. When authorities found the kid, he was busy playing with his console as if nothing happened.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@Jechan

If you make a "special point" of walking into folk, then it isn't their fault, now, is it?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

What a lucky kid. More platform barriers needed.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

@ tmarie "teach" common sense? I lol'd

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Glad the kid is ok! These kind of accidents are important learning steps to a safer society, people will look at it and be more careful, parents will mention them and advise their kids. Surely there are going to have a lot more of these accidents since it is not the first of it's kind but, but we will grow bit wiser knowing about the dangers of not paying attention on what you are doing. I know this kid will think twice before walking and using a smatphone.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

It says 10 year old and mobile phone. So we can all start throwing accusations, but maybe he was just texting his mom that was on his way home and accidentally got pushes by someone behind him.

But I do agree, people spend waaaay too much time with their phones or gameboys.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

So what we need is a new app, connecting the cell phone to a satellite which checks the user's position and flashes a warning if they're about to step off a platform or walk into a wall.

I'm joking, of course, but give it a couple of years and somebody'll come up with it....

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Tmarie,

re: More platform barriers needed.

I was thinking more about all passengers of all ages and states: healthy, infirm, drunk or suicidal.

There are lots of stations in many countries where this couldn't have happened thanks to platform barriers.

Still a lucky kid!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I hear in 10 more years most train station platforms will have barriers.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Kymmyk: the article is about a 10 year old kid, not 6!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

tmarieMay. 28, 2013 - 01:11PM JST Or perhaps parents could teach their kids some common sense safety when it comes to using their mobile phone?? There is no reason why a 10 year old child should be using a mobile phone while walking along a train platform.

Or perhaps people could stop assuming that using a cellphone magically deprives you of all sense of balance. Sure the phone is distracting, but it is only a small factor here that is being blown out of all proportion. There were probably other far more important factors, like too many people on the platform and him getting bumped.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

@ tmarie "teach" common sense? I lol'd

How else would people learn it? Contrary to common belief, it's not actually common, and often not sense either. It's a set of societal rules that groups live by, not DNA based instinctive knowledge.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Barriers would destroy the look and atmosphere of Yotsuya station. Right now it is a delicious mixture of brick, green iron girders, and a sense of protected openness. People of all ages will still do stupid things and get in trouble.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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