NPA: Number of traffic deaths in Japan falls to new low in 2022

Traffic fatalities nationwide declined to 2,610 in 2022, the sixth straight year of record-low death tolls, National Police Agency statistics showed.

The figure was down by 26, or 1.0 percent, from the previous year.

The government, which started compiling such traffic statistics in 1948, has set a goal of reducing traffic-related deaths to less than 2,000 by 2025.

The NPA said the downward trend in deaths reflects a public-private campaign for safer driving.

But the latest decrease was smaller than those in 2020 and 2021, when people refrained from venturing outdoors amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The NPA said it will analyze the impact of the pandemic on the number of traffic accidents.

According to the NPA’s figures released on Jan. 4, Osaka for the first time led all prefectures with 141 traffic-related fatalities, up by one from 2021.

Aichi Prefecture was second with 137 deaths, up by 20, followed by Tokyo’s 132, down by one, Chiba’s 124, up by three, and Hyogo’s 120, up by six.

Tottori Prefecture had the fewest fatalities, at 14, down by five.

Okayama Prefecture reported the most traffic deaths per 100,000 people, at 3.94. The smallest figure of 0.94 was logged in Tokyo.

Preliminary figures showed that individuals 65 or over accounted for 1,471, or 56.4 percent, of the deaths, down by 49, or 3.2 percent, from the previous year.