Woman dies after being hit by car, then dragged for 700 meters in Utsunomiya

Wednesday 17th December, 05:36 AM JST

UTSUNOMIYA —

A woman in her 40s died on Wednesday morning after being hit by a car in Utsunomiya City, Tochigi Prefecture. The victim was dragged by the car for about 700 meters, police said. She was taken to hospital but died shortly after her arrival.

According to police investigations, the victim was hit by the car at 6:25 a.m. A man called police, telling them he had hit the victim. Police arrested the driver, who is in his 20s. He told police he had been with another woman in her 20s, and they were drunk at the time of the incident after drinking alcohol at a nearby karaoke parlor.

Kyodo News Service

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Latest 15 of 25 Total Comments Show All

meanmutha at 08:56 PM JST - 17th December

enforce! Big jail time and fines... quit guidelining everything Japan. That goes for the smoking on platforms, The Yickidy Yaks, bike gangs, kiddie porn and public drunk laws.
likeitis at 09:42 PM JST - 17th December

Is it possible the outrageous penalties for drink driving mean nothing without a police force vigilant enough to enforce them?

Oh, they do mean something all right, even if the police don't pounce on drunk drivers with the quickness of a cat on a mouse. What they mean is that when an accident occurs, the drivers will flee in fear of the consequences, even if it means dragging a woman for near a kilometer.

Its amazing how so many posters can only attempt to draw a straight line from A to B, and no matter how many times they fail to make the connection, they just keep trying to draw that line. First it was make stricter penalties. Then its by golly they are not enforcing it enough. Actually, yes they are. The police cannot be everywhere at once, but drunk drivers who cause accidents are getting massive jail time now thanks to the new rules. The results seem to be the opposite as expected as people are remarking about how there are so many dragging incidents recently. But many still insist on that straight line from A to B and always have someone to blame when they cannot get to B.
billclinton at 10:16 PM JST - 17th December

likeitis,

yeah but everyone here knows how bad the cops are here. They deserve no mercy.
michaelkane at 10:56 PM JST - 17th December

Thats a really sad story.
higekisan at 11:12 PM JST - 17th December

sapquest, who isn't drunk at 6:30AM? Probably boring, fuddy duddies.
GG2141 at 11:13 PM JST - 17th December

Sad thing when people think that ignoring a problem will make it go away. In the case of a person under your car, it most certainly will not.
smithinjapan at 11:27 PM JST - 17th December

While billclinton has a point about the cops here, it's not really telling anyone anything they don't already know. Likeitis is bang on the money, here.

I'm not saying strict laws are unnecessary, but clearly they haven't resulted in less accidents, and in fact have increased this kind of hit-n'-drag accident. It's all we hear about.
VOR at 11:34 PM JST - 17th December

oh boy, this is the third or fourth dragging incident to take place over the last few months. i can't recall reading about these before the penalties for drinking and driving pretty much put driver and passenger in an extreme amount of legal and financial trouble.
meanmutha at 12:25 AM JST - 18th December

likeitis is tellin it like it is
saborichan at 01:35 AM JST - 18th December

Pathetic that someone could drive that far before stopping.
Hinozke at 05:11 AM JST - 18th December

I hope the guy gets the punishment he deserves. I have to know though, in all these cases how does one get caught or wedged on a moving car after being struck? Wouldn't the body just roll off?
bamboohat at 06:42 AM JST - 18th December

700 meters is a long way to drag somebody. What was going through their durnken minds while this poor woman was dragged? Did his date get off or is she going to prison to? Was he alone we he hit her? The article is unclear. This is horrible.
tokyokitty at 07:13 AM JST - 18th December

what a way to go..i think it's better to be massaged to death than get hit by a car and after, get dragged by a train..RIP
tokyokitty at 07:14 AM JST - 18th December

lol...i misread that,,no train ..hehhehe early morning...
zaichik at 09:04 AM JST - 18th December

What they mean is that when an accident occurs, the drivers will flee in fear of the consequences, even if it means dragging a woman for near a kilometer.

I'm not sure that's necessarily a logical conclusion to draw in this case - after all, it was the driver himself who called the police. Not sure why it took 700m to stop, though - couldn't dislodge the victim? Arguing with his date about whether to stop?