Woman, child not wearing seatbelts fall out of car at intersection

Friday 18th September, 08:25 AM JST

OSAKA —

A 26-year-old woman and her 1-year-old son were injured on Thursday morning when they fell out of the back seat of a car turning at an intersection in Suita City in Osaka Prefecture.

The woman was sitting in the back of her friend’s car and had her son sitting on her lap, when the car’s rear left door swung open as the car turned right at an intersection. The pair fell out of the car and onto the road. Neither of them were wearing seatbelts, police said.

The pair suffered minor injuries. The woman told police that her son had been playing with the door lever and lock.

News reports

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Latest 15 of 85 Total Comments Show All

grafton at 06:18 AM JST - 19th September

bushlover at 05:32 AM JST - 19th September

I am a representative sample, but I’m not going to tell you of what, I leave you to happily guess about that. But do try not to be cruel or rude.

I think that there is something of the chicken or the egg thing here, are seat belts protecting people or making people less responsible for themselves? Me? I’m old enough to remember a time when the first thought of having seat belts in domestic cars hadn’t even been thought & having only ever had one near serious accident (a long slide on a Mini roof across a field) the belt didn’t help, if anything it made getting out seriously difficult. A few sharp stops while driving in cities taught me that seat belts are a very good idea, but then I had already learned to be responsible for myself & not blindly trust some added features. I do take my seat belt off when driving on motorways, & know many others that do the same. If you have ever had to stop & help at the scene of a crash you will know why, death is some times preferable. Simple reasoning here is that this woman, especially with the care of a child, was a total idiot. She managed to do just about everything wrong that could be done wrong.
DeepAir65 at 07:48 AM JST - 19th September

Yes the mother is an idiot, but she is just one person out of a population of 130 million. So how do you posters come to your inane conclusion that she is in anyway representative of the Japanese people?

Because we live here and see it every day. No doubt a reconstruction of this will be used in the driving license renewal videos in the future and I hope they are covering this on the Japanese news.

When I first started driving my wife around and she was in the back seat looking after the baby she would not wear her seat belt saying that if it was not law it must be safe. Then they introduced the law - but in the mean time I would not drive with her sitting behind me unbelted.
Disillusioned at 09:37 AM JST - 19th September

grafton - Yes the mother is an idiot, but she is just one person out of a population of 130 million. So how do you posters come to your inane conclusion that she is in anyway representative of the Japanese people?

Grafton old bean, go for a walk outside right now and watch the traffic at the closest intersection for ten minutes then come back and tell us how many idiots you see not wearing seat belts, talking on their phones, speeding, driving recklessly and running red lights. Ten minutes should be plenty of time to see all of these several times.
jessssicaaa at 11:14 AM JST - 19th September

Lol this is funny.. glad they're ok.. im sure they'll know better next time!
SiouxGirl at 01:42 PM JST - 19th September

I guess this is news because it's so stupid. Who lets their child play with the door handle in a moving car?! Sure, not everyone wears a seat belt but--playing with the door handle when the car's moving ... this mother definitely gets the DUH award for today.
dontpanic at 03:07 PM JST - 19th September

Bushlover - "Back when there weren't seat belt laws there were never these many kinds of accidents because people were generally more on the ball than they are today"

The three point seatbelt is considered the single most important safety related development in cars, bar none. It's so important that Volvo (it was their guy that invented it) gave the design away for free. People werent more on the ball in years gone by, many believed they were safer if they were thrown clear of the vehicle. Thats not on the ball thinking, thats over confident and misinformed.

If I carry people in my car they wear a belt, front or back. Not because of the law, because as perfect as I consider my driving to be (dont we all?) I have no control over the others on the road. If theres an accident (they do happen), that unrestrained person in the back becomes a missile and if they hit a front seat passenger you are guaranteed serious injuries.

In my opinion its not just the woman in the back who was silly, the driver too was irresponsible. And for those who think its no-one's business but their own, well, who pays to pick up the pieces after a serious acident? We all do.
WilliB at 07:12 PM JST - 20th September

A candidate for a Darwin award?
Apsara at 11:14 PM JST - 22nd September

I do take my seat belt off when driving on motorways, & know many others that do the same.

I don't know anyone stupid enough to remove the one piece of equipment most likely to save their life in a crash- how on earth can you justify it? Death is preferable to the bruised chest and bump on the head my brother got when he survived a high speed crash that killed the two others in the car who weren't wearing seatbelts? Try telling that to any of the families involved- I know I'm glad my parents drummed into us the need to wear seatbelts. I had no idea there were so many boneheaded people out there. Just incredible.
Cheeba at 11:21 PM JST - 22nd September

Japanese dont wear seatbelts when sitting in the back seat. My friend made fun of me for putting my seat belt on :(
Sarge at 11:22 PM JST - 22nd September

"My friend made fun of me for putting my seatbelt on"

That's not your friend.
Cheeba at 05:59 AM JST - 23rd September

"That's not your friend." Yah I lied. My fake friend.
Sarge at 07:53 AM JST - 23rd September

"Yah I lied. My fake friend."

You didn't lie. Your "friend" is a fake friend, though, for making fun of you for putting on your seatbelt.
Pukey2 at 08:25 AM JST - 24th September

My friend made fun of me for putting my seat belt on :(

and you can make fun of him/her after he/she goes crashing through the windscreen.
elbudamexicano at 03:52 PM JST - 24th September

Not all Japanese are idiots, but when you go down and see how the natives of Osaka drive, it will surely make you think that most Japanese have no brains, like this idiot mother not wearing a seat belt and falling out of a car. My Chinese friend here in Japan, so far has not been injured and I tell him to buckle up, and he never tries putting the seat belt on his kid. I hope he reads this news from Osaka!
stirfry at 04:33 PM JST - 24th September

sounds more like a bugs bunny cartoon than real life