12-year-old girl dies after being hit by car in Ibaraki

Since someone brought up the question why the police were questioning the parents... Japan has a 1000 curfew for persons under 18.

There is no such legal curfew in Japan preventing or regulating people of any age from leaving their homes at any time of day or night. There are students out past 10pm regularly and legally attending cram schools and participating in club activities or on their way home from such activities. You are thinking of laws that prohibit people younger than 18 from working past 10pm. Thus, the reason why this girl was out are not relevant to this case. The possible factors and causes of this accident are the only thing the police should be focused on. It is hard to comment, but the driver does he suddenly saw the girl walking on the road. This seems to suggest that the driver had not adjusted his speed to match visibility conditions.

Since someone brought up the question why the police were questioning the parents... Japan has a 1000 curfew for persons under 18.

So sorry to hear about this! Prayers for the family.

the driver MUST adjust speed accordingly - like most drivers in Japan do -

This must be a joke, most drivers here most certainly do not adjust speed accordingly. I regularly use country roads and see drivers driving way too fast for the conditions. Part of the blame must also be passed to the city, if as it seems there is no safe area for pedestrians to walk. Certainly is the case in my "city"

In the article, it said:

Police quoted the man driving the car as saying that he suddenly saw the girl walking on the road and applied the brakes, but couldn’t stop in time.

...which indicates that the police are investigating the accident.

Not necessarily. It could also indicate that they finished investigating and that was the extent of their investigation.

A gree kittychosen! Its werry dificult to see a purson in the darknes! Im to nerly hit a purson wen i drieve in the dark :(

I drive along miles of unlit country roads every day, in the winter it is dark for the whole journey. It is sometimes extremely hard to see a person on the road due to angles of corners, shadows cast, angle of headlights, for example. I have narrowly missed someone in these circumstances because I couldn't see them until I was almost upon them (and I always drive carefully as you never know when a deer will jump out into the road). From my experience, people who don't drive are unable to know just how invisible they can be to a driver. In my opinion this was a tragic accident, but an accident none the less.

"More top down car-centric chauvinism." from CraigHicks. @CraigH: Have U ever been to or lived in Japan? Actually, U have it backwards. While in this case, we don't yet know the facts (i.e., what caused the accident), Japanese law defers to the weaker entity in an accident. A pedestrian is weaker (in a less advantageous position) than a bicycle; a bicycle weaker than a car, etc. So the driver WILL be found at least in some measure, up to and including 100%, culpable. I, too, hope the girl will RIP, but one has to wonder about the parents' responsibility for a minor being out that late.

There are no streetlights at the scene and police said there was no moon Monday night. Police said they will question the girl’s parents to try and determine what she was doing walking along the road late at night by herself.

What difference does it make what she was doing walking around at night? If there are no streetlights and no moon (and probably no sidewalk) the driver MUST adjust speed accordingly - like most drivers in Japan do - even if that means driving well below the posted speed limit.

It is sickening to see the police insinuating in a public statement that the driver couldn't help it and that it is the parents fault. More top down car-centric chauvinism.

Now that I've made it clear where I lay the blame, let me say we should do our best to keep our loved ones adorned with reflective high-vis material at night.

How about investigating the accident that led to the death of their child before questioning grieving parents that were not there at the time?

In the article, it said:

Police quoted the man driving the car as saying that he suddenly saw the girl walking on the road and applied the brakes, but couldn’t stop in time.

...which indicates that the police are investigating the accident.

Police said they will question the girl’s parents to try and determine what she was doing walking along the road late at night by herself.

While I agree it's a bit "heartless" to question the girl's parents, I also wonder what she was doing out at that time of night ? Maybe coming back from "Juku" ?

Sad, sad, sad! Japanese parents - what's wrong with yous? Shameful people...another girl again! RIP angel! One Love!

Exactly Slumdog.

Police said they will question the girl’s parents to try and determine what she was doing walking along the road late at night by herself.

How about investigating the accident that led to the death of their child before questioning grieving parents that were not there at the time?

Too many accidents recently with kids getting killed. RIP to this little one, and take care, peeps. Hopefully they can get some lights on roads like these.

RIP little one!