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4-month-old girl killed after being thrown out of car by impact of crash

30 Comments

A four-month-old girl was killed after she was thrown out of the back seat of car that crashed into a guardrail on the Chuo Expressway in Nakatsugawa, Gifu Prefecture, on Monday morning.

According to police, the accident occurred about 1.5 kms from the Enasan tunnel at around 3:30 a.m. during heavy rain. Fuji TV reported the car was being driven by the baby’s 21-year-old Brazilian father, while her 17-year-old Japanese mother was in the front passenger seat.

Police believe the driver lost control of the car in the wet conditions as he tried to pass another car. The vehicle hit a guardrail and flipped onto its side. The baby was flung out of the car and was confirmed dead at the scene, police said. The child’s parents were taken to hospital but their injuries are not life-threatening, police said.

Police said the father told them his daughter was in a child seat but her body was found on the road, not in the child seat.

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30 Comments
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Any of us who have lived in Japan for any length of time see this all the time: Non use of seatbelts. Toddlers stood in the passenger seat well, stood ON the passenger seat, climbing all over the car etc, etc. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE? Your child will be SERIOUSLY injured or will DIE if emergency braking is applied or If a crash occurs.

Please, stop being so stupid... PLEASE!

I have been into numerous Kobans, even Ward, City and Prefectural police stations to ask WHY? Met with (feigned?) concern and that’s about it. As concerned citizens, maybe we can all ask the same question, perhaps it’ll gain traction, momentum and bring change! Stop killing your kids, Japan needs as many a possible with the birth rate as it is!

19 ( +22 / -3 )

Child restraints and child seats, it turns my stomach when I see parents belted up and kids climbing around with thought for their well being.

12 ( +14 / -2 )

So tragic, seat belts people... Japan really needs to enforce it!

10 ( +12 / -2 )

@Rory, no, but the death of a baby will be 99.99999999% of people’s concern, focus when reading this tragic story.

9 ( +12 / -3 )

Both parents should be arrested for this. The only way to stop this is for 1) People to be held seriously liable when deaths or injuries occur that could have been prevented or lessened with seatbelt use, and 2) A significant media awareness campaign. If the child was in the child seat and it failed, that'll be evident fairly easily with bruising.

Most likely the child wasn't in the baby seat at all, or was just sitting in it without the seatbelt on, or it wasn't secured correctly.

The age of the parents, while not "ideal" in today's society, isn't illegal, nor should it be the focus of the story. Many young parents bring up their children successfully. Lack of basic parenting responsibilities causing injury/death, however, is/should be! It may be their age is partly responsible for their lack of responsibility, but as anyone here for a while knows, parents of all ages fail to securely belt up their kids in Japan!

9 ( +11 / -2 )

Just for anybody who didn't know, it was made law that all passengers, front and back, must wear seat belts way back in 2006 in Japan. Not that anybody would notice. Yet another totally preventable death of a child due to the complacency and negligence of a parent.

Nearly every day I see baby seats mounted in front of the airbag on the front seat, mothers holding babies and infants sitting in the front seat, kids jumping around in the car and some with their faces planted on the windscreen. As I keep saying, "Some people just don't deserve to have kids!"

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Laws are meaningless without them being enforced, reminds me of this:

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/01/18/national/seat-belt-rules-often-overlooked-difficult-to-enforce-drivers-and-passengers-say/

RIP little one.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

When I lived in the US, I was in fear of the cops pulling me over because I rolled my window down too fast. The Fuzz be hiding everywhere, just itching to pull you over.

Here in Japan, the Police look like they do everything possible to avoid pulling you over. Just two cops in the front seats, looking straight ahead, cruising around the block and oblivious to rolling stops, 5 cars turning on red, parking in NO PARKING, babies or children properly buckled up.

My feeling is of course Japan doesn't want their crime statistics to tick up.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

A small nylon belt might have saved a life. A small amount of thinking mmm might have spared this child spearing uncontrollably out of the car. What the hell are people thinking having unrestratraded children in a car? You might be a good driver but the driver who hits you isn't .

5 ( +7 / -2 )

another senseless death of a child because the govt refuses to do its job.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Was the child seat defective? The wrong size/age range for the baby? 4 months should be one of the easiest ages to get a kid to stay safely buckled in, but it is important to have the right seat, have it properly installed, and have the kid properly belted in. Something went seriously wrong here.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Yeah, the baby was in the child seat, NOT BELTED IN.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Not using a child seat is illegal in the US.

But in 2015 in the USA, over 600 children under 12 died as occupants in vehicle crashes. 35% were thought not to be properly restrained.

https://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/child_passenger_safety/cps-factsheet.html

3 ( +3 / -0 )

The child was obviously not in a child seat. It should be illegal not to use them.

How often do you see children in the front seat of cars, or in the back jumping around as parents are too dim to use child seats and seat belts. It's not rocket science.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

I won't judge the life style of these persons, but come on...

Try to to pass a car, during heavy rain ? With a baby in the back seat ?

The guy is responsible.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

@Bintaro

If the car was parked or moving at a very slow speed... We dont know all the info from the artical, sure it looks like he could have been speeding or driving dagerously but hindsight is a wonderful thing. One thing is for sure is that he is going to be in a world of pain for a very very long time.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Anyway, young children were still ejected from the vehicle and the child-seat had torn itself apart in the crash.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@Kobe White Bar Owner

I understand what you say, and I may be wrong, but it seems it was a violent accident. The crash had to be strong enough to flip the car on the side. I find it difficult to think that he was driving carefully...

One thing is for sure is that he is going to be in a world of pain for a very very long time.

That's for sure. Whatever happened, this story is heartbreaking.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Whether it's a legal obligation or not to have babies in a baby seat with the belt on is not really the point. How can parents be so totally unconscious of the danger to their precious baby ?!?

I won't even start the engine as long as my son is not securely fastened in his child seat. This is a no-brainer, same as "No helmet ? No bicycle !"

As @Disillusioned wrote, some people do not deserve having kids.

RIP, poor baby.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Am I the only one who thinks about the fact that he got a 16-year old girl pregnant?!

No. Like the others, I was thinking about a baby that died. Perhaps I should think more about the sexual habits of school girls, taking your lead on this.

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

Not using a child seat is illegal in the US.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

While it is highly probable that the child was unrestrained, what many people do not know is that most child-seats protect efficiently only up to 48kph. It is not advertised and only found in the manual.

There are multiple tragedies where vehicles had crashed at 80 kph

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

The kid was obviously NOT in her child seat... or at least not with safety belts attached.

Rory: "Am I the only one who thinks about the fact that he got a 16-year old girl pregnant?!"

Nope. But I might be the only one thinking they don't care much that the baby is gone.

-2 ( +7 / -9 )

And just to clarify, "they" means the very young parents.

-2 ( +6 / -8 )

I'm not sure they are lying, 4 months old is the age where babies begin to roll over, they can grab ad reach for things they want and pushing their torsos further out with the use of their arms.

Not sure the baby would be left unbuckled

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

In Japan child seats are not usually attached to the body frame, just strapped to the seat and easily moved. More like a child's armchair.

I thought 15 year old sex was illegal in Japan.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

As far as I am concerned and can believe the article, parents are absolutely at fault. First of all, there was no need to make maneuvers to pass the car, it can always be done slowly but steadily. Even under the heavy rain. But this is debatable.

Secondly, the child seat, as the father claimed, was properly situated and the child was in it, but the evidence says otherwise. Such an impact to throw the child out of the car would not have left them almost unharmed. If I am reading the last sentence correctly, parents, an underage girl who seems yet to know of real responsibilities, decided their child's safety and, ultimately, life, were not worth the trouble to conduct "extra" steps and secure the child seat properly. In this case, the article headline is correct - "killed" is used correctly this time.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

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