Traffic Deaths in the Municipalities of Japan (2005)

The number of traffic accidents, fatalities, and injuries in 2005 dropped from those in 20 04. In the period of 2004 to 2005, the number of traffic accidents, fatalities, and injuries fell from 952,191 to 933,828, 7,358 to 6,871, and 1,183,120 to 1,156,633, respectively.

These numbers continued to be grim, as the number of accidents exceeded 900,000 for the six th year in a row, and the number of injuries was over the 1-million mark for the seventh year in a row.

We at the Institute for Traffic Accident Research and Data Analysis have been comparing the number of fatalities per 10,000 population nationwide since 1995, classified by city, ward, town, and v illage, to be used as data for various traffic safety activities performed by local public organization s and other related institutes and agencies.

The number of fatalities in the table is the total number of people who died within 24 hour s after the occurrence of a traffic accident. Also, the "number of fatalities per 10,000 population" is calculated from fatalities on public roads.

Prefectures (Unit: Persons)

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

Summary 2005 traffic accidents and population    2005 Public roads Expressways All roads Accidents 920,053 13,775 933,828 Deaths 6,586 285 6,871 Injured 1,134702 21,931 1,156,633 Population 126,869,397 NOTE 1: "Accidents" resulting in deaths and/or injuries. NOTE 2: The population is determined from directories of cities, towns, and villages throughout the country and is current as of March 31, 2005. Average fatalities on public roads by city, ward, town, and village    Numbers of municipalities Fatalities Fatalities per 10,000 population Average Previous year's average Previous year comparison Average Previous year's average Previous year comparison Cities excluding major cities / Tokyo wards 742(741)/23 5.85 5.79 1.0% 0.50 0.51 -1.2% Wards of major cities 138(141) 4.66 4.90 -4.9% 0.31 0.33 -5.1% Towns 1,117 1.21 1.11 9.1% 0.86 0.87 -2.0% Villages 271 0.44 0.53 -17.5% 0.90 1.20 -25.3% Nationwide 2291(2293) 2.87 2.29 25.8% 0.52 0.55 -6.3% NOTE 1:The numbers enclosed in parentheses in the "Number of municipalities" column are the current numbers of existing municipalities as of December 31, 2005. NOTE 2: Reason why the number of municipalities in the table and the actual number of municipalities differ: Upon government designation of Shizuoka city as a major city in April 1, 2005; three administrative wards: Aoi-ku, Suruga-ku, and Shimizu-ku were formed. As 2005 Shizuoka city data prior to designation (January 1 - March 31) cannot be divided by the three wards, data has been entered in "Cities excluding major cities / Tokyo wards" (Shizuoka city (1 city)) instead of "Wards of major cities", only for the year of 2005. Data from 2006 is planned to be entered as 3 wards in "Wards of major cities." NOTE 3: Nakatsugawashi city data includes a fatality (one person) prior to the February 13 incorporation of Yamaguchi mura (from old Nagano Prefecture). Cities, wards, towns, and villages with the highest fatalities per 10,000 population on public roads Cities excluding major cities / Tokyo wards: 742 + 23 Population Fatalities per 10,000 population Awa city    (Tokushima) 43,116 3.25 Inashiki city    (Ibaraki) 49,772 2.81 Takahashi city    (Okayama) 37,488 2.40 Yabu city    (Hyogo) 29,520 2.37 Katsuura city    (Chiba) 22,541 2.22 * Excluding major cities Wards decreed by ordinance: 138 wards Population Fatalities per 10,000 population Chuo-ku    (Osaka) 62,332 1.44 Naniwa-ku   (Osaka) 46,517 1.29 Tennouji-ku    (Osaka) 57,995 1.03 Minato-ku    (Aichi) 147,382 0.88 Aki-ku    (Hiroshima) 75,841 0.79 Towns: 1,117 towns Population Fatalities per 10,000 population Hidaka-cho    (Hokkaido) 2,053 9.74 Miwa-cho    (Kyoto) 4,393 9.11 Saita-cho    (Kagawa) 4,740 8.44 Abu-cho    (Yamaguchi) 4,324 6.94 Sobetsu-cho    (Hokkaido) 3,146 6.36 Villages: 271 villages Population Fatalities per 10,000 population Ashigawa-mura   (Yamanashi) 570 17.54 Kamikuishiki-mura    (Yamanashi) 1,606 12.45 Shinjo-son    (Okayama) 1,109 9.02 Umaji-mura    (Kochi) 1,161 8.61 Sakae-mura    (Nagano) 2,573 7.77

Institute for Traffic Accident Research and Data Analysis (ITARDA)