Part 2. Railway Transport
Chapter 1. Trends in Railway Accidents ..... 18
Chapter 2. Measures to Address Accidents in Tunnels Caused by Falling Concrete and Railway Disruptions in the Metropolitan District ..... 18
1. Measures to prevent accidents in tunnels caused by falling concrete ..... 18
2. Measures to address railway disruptions in the metropolitan district ..... 19
Chapter 3. Major Railway Safety Measures ..... 19
1. Measures to prevent railway-crossing accidents ..... 19
2. Other traffic safety measures ..... 19
Volume 2. Maritime Transport
Chapter 1. Trends in Maritime Accidents ..... 20
Chapter 2. Improvements to Maritime Rescue Systems Prompted by the Fishing Boat Shinsei-maru Accident ..... 20
1. Improvements to rescue procedures through the lessons learned from the Shinsei-maru accident ..... 20
2. Improvements to maritime rescue systems prompted by the Shinsei-maru accident ..... 20
Chapter 3. Major Maritime Traffic Safety Measures ..... 22
Volume 3. Air Transport
Chapter 1. Trends in Aviation Accidents ..... 23
Chapter 2. Promotion of Aviation Safety ..... 23
Chapter 3. Major Air Traffic Safety Measures ..... 24

### Part 1. Road Transport

### Chapter 1. Trends in Road Traffic Accidents

## Long-term trends in road traffic accidents

The annual number of fatalities resulting from road traffic accidents in Japan peaked in 1970 at 16,765. To address concerns about the alarming death toll on the nation’s roads, the Traffic Safety Policies Law was enacted in that same year. Based on the new law, in FY1971 the government began drawing up five-year plans, known as Fundamental Traffic Safety Programs, to systematically promote traffic safety improvements.

From 1971, annual road traffic fatalities fell steadily, to 8,466 in 1979. The death toll began to rise in the following year, however, registering over 9,000 yearly in the 1982-1987 period, followed by eight consecutive years of over 10,000 deaths. It started to decline in 1995, dipping below 10,000 in 1996.

## Road traffic accidents in 1999

### 1. Overview

In 1999 a total of 850,363 traffic accidents occurred in Japan, leaving 9,006 people dead and 1,050,397 injured.

Although the death toll was kept below 10,000 for the fourth consecutive year, 1999 was the seventh year in a row to mark a new high in the number of road accidents. In addition, the total number of people injured in the year passed the 1 million mark for the first time ever renewing the all-time high record of the previous year. (See Fig. 1)

### 2. Traffic accident fatalities and injuries by age group

For the seventh straight year the elderly (people over 65) suffered the largest number of deaths (3,143 deaths, 34.9% of the total), followed by young people ages 16 to 24 (1,578 deaths, 17.5%). Together, these two age groups accounted for 52.4% of all traffic fatalities. (See Fig. 2)

The 16-24 age group accounted for 23.4% (246,292) of all road injuries, more than any other age group. The number of people injured in traffic accidents was higher than the previous year for all age groups.

### 3. Traffic accident fatalities and injuries by road user type

By road user type, motor vehicle occupants (drivers and passengers) suffered the largest number of road fatalities at 3,872, accounting for 43.0% of the total. (See Fig. 3)

Motor vehicle occupants also topped the list of injuries by road user type, with 643,590 of them injured, accounting for 61.3% of the total. The number of injuries was up from the previous year for all road user types.