Traffic deaths drop to record low in Jan-June

Thursday 24th July, 10:33 AM JST

TOKYO —

The death toll from road accidents during the first half of the year dropped 13.5% from a year before to 2,295, the lowest since statistics were first recorded in 1954, the National Police Agency said Thursday. The number of traffic accidents and injured persons in the first half of this year also declined, by 8.1% to 371,943 and by 8.5% to 458,879, respectively, the NPA said.

The number of deadly accidents caused by drunken driving plunged 40.5% to 132 during the same period. Out of the total death toll, people aged 65 or older accounted for more than 40% for the fourth year in a row. By prefecture, Aichi marked the largest number of fatalities with 120, followed by Saitama with 104 and Shizuoka with 103. Tottori had the smallest death toll with 13, followed by Okinawa with 17, and Yamanashi and Shimane each with 20.

5 Comments

Altria at 01:10 PM JST - 24th July

Yay for record gas prices!
LIBERTAS at 02:13 PM JST - 24th July

Darwinian natural selection. Many of the appalling drivers are already gone!
taj at 05:11 PM JST - 24th July

high petrol prices + stricter drunk-driving laws/enforcement + greying population = better road conditions.

The greying population is a mixed bag. Usually it's the 18-25 yo males who make up the highest risk demographic. Now there are just fewer and fewer of them around. Seniors stand out now as a risk group, but this will slide off as well when the dantai/boomer population gets to the point at which they stop driving. We may continue to see their accidents increase over the next 10-15 years though. (my prediction, based on nothing in particular.)
franz75 at 06:36 PM JST - 24th July

Drink or Drive! With the gas price I choose to just drink...
kinniku at 10:12 PM JST - 25th July

Altria,

You beat me to it! Definitely gas prices. Still it is always good when more people live.