Traffic Deaths in the Municipalities of Japan (2001)

According to statistics taken by Japan's National Police Agency, road traffic accident fatalities totaled 8,747 in 2001, falling below the 9,000 mark for the first time in 20 years. But the number of road accidents and injuries both recorded a new high, thus indicating the continuing trend of serious accident situation.   In an effort to fight traffic accidents, since 1995 ITARDA has been supplying statistical data translated into the number of accident fatalities per 10,000 population in each of the municipalities throughout Japan. As these data enable comparisons of fatality frequency among municipalities, local administrations and related agencies are expected to make use of the data in their traffic safety activities.   A fatality is defined as a death within 24 hours resulting from a traffic accident. For detailed analysis, the statistics divide fatalities into those from accidents on surface roads and those on expressways. But the number of fatalities per 10,000 population is calculated exclusively from fatalities on surface roads and is ranked from high to low.

Prefectures (Unit: Persons)

Aichi Akita Aomori Chiba Ehime Fukui Fukuoka Fukushima Gifu Gunma Hiroshima Hokkaido Hyogo Ibaraki Ishikawa Iwate Kagawa Kagoshima Kanagawa Kochi Kumamoto Kyoto Mie Miyagi Miyazaki Nagano Nagasaki Nara Niigata Oita Okayama Okinawa Osaka Saga Saitama Shiga Shimane Shizuoka Tochigi Tokushima Tokyo Tottori Toyama Wakayama Yamagata Yamaguchi Yamanashi

Summary Traffic Accidents in 2001    2000 Comparison Accidents 947169 15235 1.6% Fatalities 8747 -319 -3.5% Injured 1180955 25258 2.2% *"Accidents" resulting in deaths and/or injuries. Average fatalities per city, ward, town, and village    Numbers of municipalities Fatalities Fatalities per 10,000 population Average Previous year comparison Average Previous year comparison Cities excluding major cities / Tokyo wards 659/23 6.80 -0.30 -4.2% 0.58 -0.03 -4.9% Wards of major cities 128 6.19 0.10 1.6% 0.41 0.00 0.0% Towns 1,986 1.30 -0.07 -5.8% 1.04 -0.06 -5.5% Villages 566 0.61 0.02 3.4% 1.38 0.04 3.0% Nationwide 3,362 2.49 -0.09 -3.5% 0.66 -0.03 -4.3% *Excluding major cities. The most populated of the 1,102 municipalities recording no fatalities Cities with no fatalities: 24 cities Population Kokubunji city   (Tokyo) 108,079 Okegawa city    (Saitama) 74,368 Komae city    (Tokyo) 73,661 Fujiidera city    (Osaka) 66,808 Hamura City    (Okayama) 59,757 Wards of major cities with no fatalities: 3 wards Population Atsubetsu-ku      (Sapporo city) 127,810 Higashinari-ku    (Osaka city) 71,237 Naniwa-ku    (Osaka city) 45,242 Towns with no fatalities: 727 towns Population Oi-machi      (Saitama) 45,270 Oizumi-machi      (Gunma) 36,762 Miyoshi-machi      (Saitama) 35,128 Harima-cho      (Hyogo) 34,285 Washimiya-machi      (Saitama) 34,165 Villages with no fatalities: 348 villages Population Niisato-mura    (Gunma) 16,303 Nakagusuku-son   (Okinawa) 14,544 Tamayama-mura    (Iwate) 14,203 Shinto-mura   (Gunma) 13,671 Rokkasho-mura    (Aomori) 11,696 Cities, wards, towns and villages with the highest fatalities per 10,000 population 659 cities excluding major cities & 23 Tokyo wards Population Fatalities per 10,000 population Itako city    (Ibaraki) 32,300 3.41 Haramachi city    (Fukushima) 48,392 2.89 Kikuchi city    (Kumamoto) 27,642 2.89 Furano city    (Hokkaido) 25,863 2.71 Usa cityy    (Oita) 50,360 2.58 Wards of major cities: 128 wards Population Fatalities per 10,000 people Chuo-ku    (Osaka city) 54,489 1.65 Konohana-ku   (Osaka city) 65,403 1.07 Nishi-ku    (Osaka city) 60,994 0.98 Higashi-ku    (Nagoya city) 63,555 1.17 Hyogo-ku    (Kobe city) 106,305 0.94 Towns: 1,986 towns Population Fatalities per 10,000 people Kumanogawa-cho    (Hokkaido) 2,155 23.20 Utanobori-cho    (Hokkaido) 2,591 15.44 Kimobetsu-cho    (Hokkaido) 2,848 14.04 Onbetsu-cho    (Hokkaido) 3,010 13.29 Togouchi-cho    (Hiroshimai) 3,386 11.81 Villages: 566 villages Population Fatalities per 10,000 people Hongawa-mura   (Kochi) 800 50 Namiai-mura    (Nagano) 791 25.28 Tatsuyama-mura    (Shizuoka) 1,269 23.64 Shimukappu-mura    (Hokkaido) 1,644 18.25 Hiraya-mura    (Nagano) 651 15.36 *Excluding major cities

Notes
1	In calculating the number of fatalities per 10,000 population, statistics on Japan's regional population as of April 1, 2001 were taken from "Zenkoku Shi-Chou-Son-Youran, Heisei-13-Year Version (Ver. 2001)" edited by the Promotion Department, Administration Bureau, Home Affairs Ministry.
2	The Hokkaido villages of Shikotan-mura, Tomari-mura (Kunashiri-gun), Ruyabetsu-mura, Rubetsu-mura, Shana-mura, and Shibetoro-mura were excluded from the aggregate figures.
3	Wards include both special wards and those in major cities.

Institute for Traffic Accident Research and Data Analysis (ITARDA)