4-year-old girl dies after being hit by truck driven by grandfather

I hate reading news like this. You can just never be too careful.

Police quoted the grandfather as saying, “I thought the kids had seen me coming and had run out of the way.”

So you don't even slow down?? Bad excuse, never assume anything with little children. Better safe than sorry.

You should never follow children in a vehicle. That's what exactly he was doing, according to the news.

67 driving a truck...

I have seen really careless drivers in many places, people who seem to think they can drive however fast and leap over danger like Speed Racer or something, but yes, it does seem like more in Japan. What gets me though is back home, its malicious people. Here, these people do not even seem to be aware of the risks they are taking.

I very nearly threw a shovel at a woman speeding down the narrow road in front of my house. I had actually stopped her and warned her to slow down before that. She must have seen the shovel go up. Next time I saw her, she was crawling along. I encourage all of you to be proactive here, even at the risk of seeming an uppity gaijin. They are just completely oblivious to what they are doing.

“I thought the kids had seen me coming and had run out of the way.”

Um...you're suppose to stop dummy!

I thiught because I'm driving a CAR, it doesn't MATTER that they are WALKING near me. I'll be just FINE.

I think you weren't paying attention sir. A common problem with drivers in Japan.

" 67 driving a truck..."

So? It's not like he's 97.

Police quoted the grandfather as saying, “I thought the kids had seen me coming and had run out of the way.”

Wrong! You didn't bloody think at all! If you had your granddaughter would still be alive!

How Sad !

Better safe than sorry

I agree with this saying. How would you say that in Japanese?

What a tragic accident... better safe than sorry indeed, however, I don't think thie grandfather deserves so much harsh criticism. He obviously knows what he did wrong and feels worse than anyone can imagine.

“I thought the kids had seen me coming and had run out of the way.”

I guess it was too much trouble for you to visually verify that they had actually done that. Now you have to explain to the child's parents why you've deprived them of their daughter.

Fadamor,

Not only does the grandfather had has to to the parents that he is depriving them of their daughter but he has to also deal with that fact that it was his grand daughter.

And the award for the driver with the least common sense goes to...

Will this grandfather be arrested or is it a crime only when the victim is not a relative? If I were to cause the death of a young girl, relative or not, emotionally I suffer just as much.

"I don't think this grandfather deserves so much harsh criticism". Because of his carelessness and lack of good judgement, a little girl is dead. If she had run out into the street in front of a car, giving the driver no time to react, then there should be no criticism. But this person saw her, continued to drive right up behind her, assumed she'd move, and ran over her. Now she's dead. If that doesn't deserve criticism, I don't know what does.

The grandfather does not need additional punishment. Knowing that he killed his own granddaughter is enough punishment for anyone. That will stay with him for the rest of his life.

Having said what I did, I have to agree with WilliB. I would go insane if I did that to my granddaughter.

Pfft! Yeah, so, let's support the careless jiji that screamed past his grandchildren with no regard to their safety what-so-ever and killed one of them! Anybody with half a brain or half a sense of driver responsibility would never drive past a group of young children at speed on a narrow road! I bet the old fool slows down next time! I see it all the time in Japan. The roads are narrow and packed with children at certain times of the day, but it doesn't stopped these idiots speeding through narrow streets just to beat the next signal. This is a totally preventable and unacceptable death of a child on the roads in Japan due to carelessness and irresponsibility of an experienced driver.

Just a bad and sad story for the whole family that could and is happening anywhere in the world. No need to add awkward comments.

Pfft! Yeah, so, let's support the careless jiji that screamed past his grandchildren with no regard to their safety what-so-ever and killed one of them!

Maybe I missed the part in the article where it said the driver "screamed past" the kids. He could have been going only a couple of kph faster than the girl was walking and she died when her head hit the pavement when she was knocked down. In a contest between a vehicle and a 4-year-old, there doesn't need to be much speed difference at all for it to be fatal. This ojii-san is certainly worthy of criticism, but there's nothing here that says he was traveling at an excessive speed for the road involved. Let's keep the criticisms to what we know he did and not add invented transgressions.