TOKYO, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- The number of traffic accident deaths in Japan rose 2.1 percent year-on-year to 1,182 in the first half (H1) of 2023, recent police data has shown.
This marked the first increase in a decade for the January-June period, the National Police Agency (NPA) said in an online report, noting monthly fatalities increased in January and March compared to the previous year.
Of the 1,182 total people who died, 417 were walking, 402 were riding in a car, 212 were on a motorcycle and 143 were on a bicycle, with increases in deaths logged among motorcycle riders, pedestrians, and those in cars.
The report pointed out that the number of bicycle-related fatal accidents in H1 was on the decline, but about 80 percent of which involved violations of laws by bicycles.
Helmet usage rate in the accidents rose 2.1 percentage points year-on-year to 12.2 percent. Under the country's revised road traffic law, cyclists across all age groups in Japan have been urged to wear helmets since April.
Of all the fatal traffic accidents in H1, the number of deaths caused by elderly drivers aged 75 and over totaled 179 cases, an increase of 10.5 percent compared to the same period of the previous year, the NPA data showed.
Analysts here believed that one of the reasons behind the rise is an increase in the population of people aged 75 or over with driver's licenses. Those born between 1947 and 1949, or the first baby boomers, have started to reach 75.
During the six-month period, the number of traffic accidents rose by 3,956 to 146,943. There were 1,149 incidents in which at least one person died. ■