5-year-old boy killed in car accident in Gifu

Tuesday 03rd March, 10:36 AM JST

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Disillusioned at 12:07 PM JST - 3rd March

Now will the j-cops make an effort to get these kids belted up! I see two or three cars with unrestrained kids in them every day on my ten minute walk to the station. Driving around with kids (or dogs) on their lap, kid's faces in the windscreen, kids jumping around in the back of vans. It is ludicrous! Shame on j-cops and the society! Shame!
plasticmonkey at 12:46 PM JST - 3rd March

This kind of senseless tragedy happens all the time. The reason it's in the news this time might have something to do with the cops wanting to get a message out: buckle up.
Stonefish at 12:48 PM JST - 3rd March

Why wont this country launch a few ad campaigns to get people informed about the dangers?

Seeing stories like this on the news is simply not enough. News is what happens to other people. The public needs to be swayed by enactments that they can relate to.

They could turn to Australia for some classic shock commercials - needless to say there are no fluffy costumed mascot characters involved in these commercials - just mangled wrecks and bodies and screaming traumatized relatives-of-victims.

Notably in Australia it is the cops themselves, that are SOLIDLY behind the crackdown on IRRESPONSIBLE driving....because they're the ones who have to clean up the grizzly mess and deliver the traumatic news.

Come on J-cops. Show some heart and get yer sticks out.
electric2004 at 12:53 PM JST - 3rd March

Maybe it is not only the fault of the mother. At 5 years, the child surely has learned how to open the seat belt by himself. My son (almost 4 years) knows how to do, when he wants to get out after arriving at the place where we want to go. Also he knows how to operate the door child-lock. He can read "lock" and understands the meaning. The point is, my son learned, that he should not open the seat belt while driving, because of safety. It takes some time, but by good example of the parents (always buckle up), a child will not only follow the ideas, but then will try to teach his parents to be careful.
Molenir at 01:31 PM JST - 3rd March

Agreed. My neices and nephews have no trouble getting out of their car seats at will. Despite being buckled up. They know however they get in big trouble if they do so whenever the car is moving.
noirgaijin at 02:09 PM JST - 3rd March

Good to hear the two above commenter’s are teaching their kids the right way. However, as most have already stated most allow their kids to run around the car as it is a play ground. But what cracks me up (in a negative way) is the driver and adult passengers are all buckled in. I assume they will attempt to catch the kid like a beach ball after impact. The one that really kills me is the woman in a small compact with the one or two year old strapped to her back against the seat as she put puts down the road. Imagine what kind of injuries a rear end would cause.
pawatan at 02:16 PM JST - 3rd March

So sad. Poor boy pays for his mother's carelessness and stupidity.

No excuse for not having your children restrained!
LFRAgain at 02:29 PM JST - 3rd March

Electric2004,

I agree with most of your post. In fact, very nice post. But I'm hard pressed to agree that the child might possibly share the blame for slipping his constraints and thus dying in the accident. If the child had indeed slipped the seatbelt, his mother should have done the parental thing and made the child get back into his seat. The mother should have stopped the car. The mother should have done something. And maybe she did, for all we know. Maybe the kid slipped the seatbelt and the accident occurred because the mother was distracted trying to get him to sit down. But I doubt it, particularly considering how cavalier most parents in Japan seem to be about seatbelting their kids in.

What gets me is that most parents here will use seatbelts for themselves, but not for their own children. Simply baffling.
LFRAgain at 02:43 PM JST - 3rd March

You read my mind, noirgaijin.

One reason I think so many parents here don't think twice about seatbelts for the kids is that they possess an overwhelming confidence that they will never be in an accident due to their supposedly safe driving. I can't count how many times I've heard Japanese go on about how dangerous roads must be in such-and-such country because drivers can get licenses at an earlier age, or the speed limits are significantly higher, or the cost of driver education is significantly lower.

Most Japanese are convinced that because licenses here are obtained at 18, speed limits are relatively low, and driving school costs a small fortune, Japanese roads and drivers are by default safe. What they don't figure into the equation is that no matter how safely one drives, it's usually the other driver, the one speeding up out of nowhere – falling asleep at the wheel, driving drunk, adjusting his car radio – that causes most accidents. That and simple complacent carelessness. While remaining alert while driving helps the one, no degree of training can fully prepare you for the other driver who does what you'd least expect. Hence the term "accident” – the unexpected, the unknown, the unplanned for.

Rarely am I worried about how I drive. It’s usually the other guy that scares the crap out of me. Thus, seatbelts 100% of the time for everyone in my car.
dennis0bauer at 03:08 PM JST - 3rd March

LFRAgain i agree (your first comment) most (young)kids here in japan are not seatbelted and are playing around in the car
Disillusioned at 03:47 PM JST - 3rd March

So, what would be a suitable charge for the mother? Criminal neglegence resulting in death? Failing to forfill 'duty of care' for a child? Or, how about, boneheaded selfish stipidity? If the latter was an offense half the population of Japan would be guilty. As much as I always bag the cops (cos they deserve it) this woman is at fault. There have been a few 'token' campaigns advertising this law and the others that were ontroduced at the same time like, kids under 13 wearing bicycle helmets (funny hey?). Ignorance is not an excuse! This idiot woman now has the rest of her life to be punished for this. A punishment befitting the crime!
goodteacher at 12:48 AM JST - 4th March

Sad news.But,I think that a similar accident should occur in Japan. Because,It will not decrease a loss for children as well as with heat stroke death in the car while these parents playing at the pachinko hall.
Pachinko893 at 02:17 PM JST - 4th March

Stupid is as stupid does. This woman deserves only a bow that includes a head butt.
JasUK at 02:56 PM JST - 5th March

Use child seats and seatblets they are there for a reason. I see it often mother holding her baby in lap in front passenger seat its just STUPID. Japan should have Government videos showing what happens if you try to hold child in an event of impact, you can't bearly carry your Louis Vuitton bag you not going to hold baby on impact. 7 yrs testing safety belts and babyseats for British Standards (BSI) i know.
electric2004 at 09:03 PM JST - 8th March

LFRAgain, I agree with you. It takes some time that a child learns to follow the right ideas. And sometimes the parents (me included) also need to learn to anticipate what a child can do. For examples 2 children sitting near to each other on the backseat - they may open each others seatbelt.