2008 traffic death toll falls for 8th straight year to 5,155

TOKYO, Jan. 2 Kyodo - The road traffic death toll during 2008 in Japan decreased for the eighth year
in a row to 5,155, down 589 from a year before, the National Police Agency said
in a report released Friday.
The figure, about one-third that of the worst-ever total of 16,765 marked in
1970, means that the government has already achieved its policy goal on traffic
safety of reducing the annual death toll to 5,500 or less by 2010.
Prime Minister Taro Aso said in a statement, ''We will further halve the number
of people who die in traffic accidents over the next decade.''
As for fatal traffic accidents caused by drunken driving, for which the
government is toughening penalties, the number came to 277 between January and
November last year, down 118 from the comparable period a year earlier, the
agency said.
Meanwhile, the number of road traffic accidents during 2008 totaled 765,510,
while the number of people injured in them stood at 944,071, falling below 1
million for the first time since 1998.
Noting that there are still more than 5,000 people who die in traffic accidents
every year, NPA Commissioner General Hiroto Yoshimura said the police take the
current situation seriously and will promote measures to further reduce the
number of victims.
==Kyodo