Two children were killed when the car driven by their mother crashed into a dump truck in Kyowa, Hokkaido, on Wednesday.
According to police, the accident occurred at around 2:15 p.m. along National Route 229. Hokkaido media quoted police as saying that a vehicle driven by Hisae Muto, 37, carrying her four sons, including 3-month-old twins, apparently crossed the center line and slammed into the truck.
All five passengers in the car and the 46-year-old truck driver were taken to hospital. Police said two children, one of the twins, Osuke, and his two-year-old brother, Sogo, died shortly after arrival at the hospital. The other twin, Yosuke, and his five-year-old brother suffered serious injuries. Their mother suffered a chest injury, while the truck driver sustained a head injury.
© Japan Today
21 Comments
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wtfjapan
I don't think seat belts really matter to a car that crashes head on with a dump truck.
total BS , I did just that in 2004, that is a truck hit me head on after coming around a bend and crossing into my lane, I didnt even have time to brake. I was doing about 50, truck about 60 so it was like hitting a brick wall at 110kph. My wife and I were both wearing belts, she got 3 broken ribs, ruptured kidney, I a broken nose from hiiting the steering wheel , no airbag in the car I was driving, and a cracked knee cap from my knees hitting the lower console, yes the belt stretched that much from the impact. bruising from the seat belts on my waist and shoulder. i can tell you if either of us wernt wearing belts wed both be through the windscreen dead on the road or wedge in the trucks front grill. SEAT BELTS SAVE LIVES WEAR THEM PEOPLE!
Bugle Boy of Company B
Wow! A lot of witnesses to the accident who can swear the kids weren't wearing seatbelts! Imagine the odds!
wtfjapan
Seat belts or not, the question is,
no the question is if they were wearing seat belt, decades of statistics show that wearing a seat belt in a crash greatly increases your chances of survival and drastically lowers your risk of injury. you can be the best driver in the world it doesn't stop that drunk driver from hitting you
sensei258
I'm waiting to hear how many of the kids we're not restrained. So many times, I've seen mother's driving around either with their kids in their lap, or standing up without a car seat or seat belt.
smithinjapan
A million dollars says they were not in child seats or fastened down properly.
Jimi
me too, kids being driven around not wearing seat belts is down to ignorance and selfishness on the part of the parents, as well as incompetence by the j police to not enforce it.
kurisupisu
How come she crossed the median line-distracted?
smithinjapan
Bugle Boy of Company B: "Wow! A lot of witnesses to the accident who can swear the kids weren't wearing seatbelts!"
I see it every single day, as well as kids on bikes with no helmets, etc. And on the contrary, I don't ever remember seeing a child seat in a car, though I know they have them here. How else did only the kids die and no one else? Hell, they may well have been the cause of the accident. Not the kids' fault even if that's the case, but I would be quite surprised if they were in children's seats. I guarantee they were not. I
Strangerland
I hope you're not expecting me to just take your word at it.
Twenty years ago, I saw it lots. These days? Pretty much never.
Yet we have people claiming that they see it every day. Ok, so we have clearly different things we are seeing, and therefore I need actual evidence that there is a problem, because frankly, I don't see it. And if I don't see it, then how can I just accept your assertion that it does in contrast to what I'm seeing, without some sort of other proof.
Strangerland
I'm past two decades now. At which point to I cross 'a while'?
At times, yes. It's weird you think that my decision on whether or not to wear a helmet somehow would affect my vision in a manner to somehow blank out these supposed children not in child seats that you guys apparently see every day.
In this story? There is no mention of whether they were wearing seatbelts. Or you mean some other story? One story does not a trend make. Show me some numbers. The problem may very well exist, but I suspect that none of you have actually fact checked yourselves to figure out if it really does or not.
Stewart Gale
I don’t understand all the downvoting on anyone suggesting the children weren’t seatbelts in the comments here.
She had a chest injury: that sounds like a whiplash injury someone wearing a seatbelt might sustain.
The truck driver had a head injury: that sounds like he was wearing a seatbelt and his face hit the steering wheel.
Two kids dead and two seriously injured: it sounds like they were unsecured and thrown around like rag dolls.
Reading this information, coupled with the amount of unrestrained children you see travelling in cars here makes the assumption that they weren’t wearing seatbelts or in baby seats very understandable.
Jimi
i guarantee they weren't wearing their seatbelts. Every single tme i see kids being driven around here they are not even sitting in their seats never mind seatbelts, young kids of 3 and 4 yrs old too.
smithinjapan
Stranger land: “Risky bet.”
not for anyone living here here for more than a while. But then, don’t you avoid safety measures like wearing a bicycle helmet if it’ll mess up your hair? This shouldn’t surprise you as such. Just like yesterday’s child death in a car accident. You see it every day.
DaDude
I don't think seat belts really matter to a car that crashes head on with a dump truck.
Stewart Gale
@Strangeland, are you still denying there is a problem in Japan with children travelling unrestrained in their parents’ cars?
Strangerland
Risky bet.
Disillusioned
Seat belts or not, the question is, why did she cross the center line? Texting? talking on the phone? Watching TV? Speeding? Take your pick of the common causes.
Vince Black
So simple, use seat belts. Check the phone activity and wether or not the tv was on inside
Douglas Whitman
Can't rule out her doing it on purpose. There's plenty of nutter mothers floating around Japan.