(2) Systematic management (e.g. bridges) for providing safe and secure road services

From now on, there will be a rapid increase in decrepit roads and bridges that were built mainly during the high economic growth period, and it is feared that there will be an increase in the risk of serious damages. Therefore, from the expressways to prefectural roads, regular inspections are being performed through systematically implementing the “Preventive Preservation of Early Discovery and Early Repair” in order to lengthen the life of roads, expressways and bridges and ensure the long-term use of roads securely and safely. In addition, in order to resolve the problem of $ \sim60\% $ of municipalities not having enough talent, skills and capital and cannot

## Ratio of Bridges Built 50 Years Ago and Before

Note: Data for 150,000 bridges (with lengths of 15m) nationwide Source: The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism

carry out regular inspections, regional public organizations are taking measures such as demonstrations of inspection duties and skills standards, technical and financial support etc.

## (3) Comprehensive safety measures for automobile

## 1 ) Safety measures for commercial-use automobiles

By setting “the reduction by 50% of human-related accidents and fatalities caused by commercial-use automobiles in the coming 10 years” and “0 cases of drunk driving” as e targets, based on the “Commercial-use Automobile Comprehensive Safety Plan 2009” formulated in March 2009, various measures are being implemented, including publication of an e-magazine named “Commercial-use Automobile Safety News”, enhancement of the monitoring principle and administrative punishment, expansion of target businesses of safety management evaluation, implementation of safety management evaluation through $ 3^{rd} $ parties and revision of automobile accident reporting regulation with additional content such as the expansion of the reporting scope of accident news. Furthermore, in order to achieve these targets, the “Follow-up Meeting of the Commercial-use Automobile Comprehensive Safety Plan 2009” was established and held in October of the same year, the progress of measures advancement and target achievement will be verified continuously in the future.

## 2 ) Review on future vehicle safety measures

In the MLIT Council Report of June 2006, a reduction in the number of fatalities by 2,000 was targeted (compared with 1999) and a reduction in the number of injured persons by 25,000 (compared with 2005) before 2010. On the basis of this, the evaluation of the target achievement progress and the review on the targets for new vehicle safety measures will be carried out in the future.

## 3 ) Expanding and strengthening safety standards

There is concern over vehicles (e.g. hybrid cars) without noise generation, from organizations of people with visual disabilities etc. Therefore, “guidelines on measures against the silent function of vehicles such as hybrid car” was formulated in January 2010. Additionally, the method for collecting, administering and utilizing drive recorder $ ^{1} $ data is being reviewed for expanding and strengthening cause analysis.

## 4 ) Provision of safety information through Japan New Car Assessment Program

Having released the assessment result of the safety functionality on automobiles and child seats to the public, the program prompts users to select safer automobiles and manufacturers to develop safer automobiles and child seats. From FY 2000 to FY 2008, through providing the evaluation results of 178 automobile models and 95 types of child seat, it is contributing to the improvement of the safety functionality of automobiles.