Traffic deaths in Japan fall to 2,547 in 2025

Tokyo: The number of deaths in traffic accidents across Japan in 2025 fell by 116 from the previous year to 2,547, police data showed Tuesday. The...

Tokyo: The number of deaths in traffic accidents across Japan in 2025 fell by 116 from the previous year to 2,547, police data showed Tuesday.

The number, marking the lowest figure since comparable data became available in 1948, still missed the government's target of lowering annual traffic-related deaths to less than 2,000 by 2025, according to the National Police Agency (NPA).

Individuals aged 65 or older accounted for 55.9 percent of the deaths, or 1,423, the NPA said.

The number of traffic accidents in 2025 decreased by 3,659 to 287,236 from the previous year, while the number of people injured fell by 6,101 to 338,294, it added.

National Public Safety Commission Chairman Jiro Akama said in a statement that he regrets the target was not met and will instruct police to "strongly promote traffic safety education and crack down on malicious and dangerous traffic offenses such as drunk driving and using smartphones while driving."