Traffic accidents in Japan have increased rapidly since the 1950s with the growth in road transport. Fatalities surpassed 10,000 for the first time in 1959 and reached 16,765 in 1970. This has become a major social problem often typified by the expression "road warfare". The Traffic Safety Policies Law was enacted in 1970 in response to the situation and a comprehensive range of traffic accident prevention measures was implemented. These included greater presence on the roads with more traffic police officers, the introduction of an infringement system, improvements in the road and traffic environment and greater traffic safety activities at all levels in the community. As a result, the number of traffic accidents fell sharply and fatalities due to traffic accidents stood at 8,466 in 1979, almost half that of the peak in 1970. However, traffic accident fatalities reverted into an upward trend after bottoming out in the latter half of the 1970s and exceeded 10,000 for eight consecutive years. The number of fatalities in 2000 increased for the first time in 5 years and the number of traffic accidents resulting in injury or death and the number of injuries both posted record highs. Road accidents during 2000 can be broken down as follows: • Fatalities : 9,066 (Comparison with previous year: +60; +0.7%); • Injuries : 1,155,697 (Comparison with previous year: + 105,300; + 10.0%); • Accidents : 931,934 (Comparison with previous year: + 81,571 ; +9.6%) Fatalities rose for the first time in 5 years while the number of accidents was the worst on record for the eighth year in a row. The number of injuries also registered the worst figure on record. Aspects which were particularly evident in fatal traffic accidents during 2000 were: • The number of fatalities among motor vehicle occupants increased. • The number of accidents involving motor vehicles colliding into objects and head-on collisions between motor vehicles increased. • Fatalities among senior citizens in the 65 and over age group increased and made up a large proportion of fatalities overall. • Fatal accidents resulting from exceeding the maximum speed limit increased. • Fatalities among vehicle occupants not wearing seat belts decreased but fatalities among those wearing seat belts increased. Statistics have always been kept on fatalities which occur within 24 hours of an accident and, since 1993, fatalities which occur within 30 days of an accident have also been added to the statistics. In 2000, this figure was 10,403. The ratio of fatalities within 30 days of an accident to fatalities within 24 hours was 1.15 times. (Author/publisher)
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