Traffic accidents in Japan have increased rapidly since the 1950s as the volume of automobile transportation has increased. In 1959, traffic accident fatalities exceeded 10,000 people for the first time. By 1970, the number had reached 16,765, signaling the enormity of a social problem that had come to be known as “traffic war.” In response to this situation, the Traffic Safety Policies Law was enacted in 1970 and comprehensive measures for preventing traffic accidents were implemented. These included increasing the number of officers to provide a stronger police presence on the road, introducing a system of violations, making improvements to the roads and the transportation environment, and stronger traffic safety activities at all levels of society. These efforts resulted in a rapid decline in traffic accidents that brought the number of fatalities down to 8,466 in 1979, roughly half its peak level. After bottoming out in the late 1970s, however, traffic accident fatalities rose again, exceeding 10,000 for eight consecutive years. Since falling below 10,000 in 1996, traffic accident fatalities have continued a downward trend. The number of fatalities dropped for the sixth consecutive year in 2006, falling to the low 6,000s for the first time since 1955, a span of 51 years. Traffic accidents in 2006 can be broken down as follows: • Fatalities : 6,352 (Compared to previous year: –519; –7.6%); • Injuries : 1,098.199 (Compared to previous year: –58,434; –5.1%); • Accidents : 886,864 (Compared to previous year: –46,964; –5.0%). Fatalities dropped to the low 6,000s. The number of traffic accidents and injuries, which were the worst on record in 2004, fell for the second consecutive year. However, the situation remains serious, with more than 1 million injuries for the eighth consecutive year. Since 1993, in addition to the statistics for fatalities that occur within 24 hours, statistics for fatalities that occur within 30 days have also been tracked. For 2006, the 30-day figure fell for the sixth consecutive year to 7,272, dropping to the low 7,000s for the first time since records have been kept. The ratio of 30-day fatalities to 24-hour fatalities continued to fall gradually, reaching 1.14 for the first time since records have been kept. (Author/publisher)
Abstract