THE MOTOR INDUSTRY OF JAPAN 2019

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● ROAD ACCIDENTS/INJURIES/FATALITIES0500,0001,000,0001,500,0002,000,00005,00010,00015,00020,0001970Year197519801985199019952000200520102015Fatalities(Number of persons)Injuries(Number of persons)Accidents(Number of accidents)AccidentsYear197019751980198519901995200020052009201020112012201320142015201620172018Injuries(Number ofpersons)Fatalities(Number ofpersons)Source: National Police Agency● ROAD ACCIDENTS/INJURIES/FATALITIES 　 (exact figures)Promoting Greater Road SafetyRoad safety involves three factors—road users, road infrastructure, and vehicles. Accordingly, those three factors are the focus of JAMA’s and its member manufacturers’ road safety activities (for the latter’s vehicle-related measures for increased active and passive safety, see page 27). JAMA’s activities promoting greater road safety target, through various channels, road users, and JAMA also regularly submits to Japan’s relevant authorities recommendations on road infrastructure-related measures for increased safety and convenience in road use. In 2018 road fatalities (defined here as deaths occurring within 24 hours after accident) in Japan dropped to 3,532, the lowest level recorded since the start of road fatality data compilation in 1948 by the National Police Agency. Road accidents and road injuries also declined, for the fourteenth consecutive year, to 430,601 and 525,846 respectively. Seatbelt use is a major contributing factor to reduced fatalities and reduced injuries in road traffic accidents. The June 2008 revision to the Road Traffic Act requires all automobile occupants, including rear-seat occupants, to use seatbelts. Although the rate of use of rear seatbelts in 2018 stood at 38.0% on regular roads and at 74.2% on expressways, those rates remain low compared to the rate of use of front seatbelts, which approaches 100%. Further measures are needed to encourage rear-seat occupants to buckle up.Road SafetyRoad Safety718,080472,938476,677552,788643,097761,794931,950934,346737,637725,924692,084665,157629,033573,842536,899499,201472,165430,601981,096622,467598,719681,346790,295922,6771,155,7071,157,113911,215896,297854,613825,392781,492711,374666,023618,853580,850525,84616,76510,7928,7609,26111,22710,6849,0736,9374,9794,9484,6914,4384,3884,1134,1173,9043,6943,532Notes: 1. The survey on seatbelt use is conducted annually in October. 2. 2018 survey samples totalled roughly 410,000 on regular roads and 89,000 on expressways.● SEATBELT USE RATES BY SEAT POSITIONIn %Driver’s seat2009Year101112131415161718200406080100Regular RoadsFront passenger’s seat Rear seat96.697.397.597.798.098.298.498.598.690.892.292.793.293.993.994.694.995.233.533.133.233.235.135.135.136.036.498.895.938.02009Year101112131415161718200406080100Expressways99.299.299.399.599.499.599.499.599.596.997.097.397.797.998.198.098.098.363.463.763.565.468.270.371.371.874.499.698.574.2Sources: National Police Agency; Japan Automobile Federation25