Safer roads in Japan

Annual road deaths in Japan dropped to 6,871 -- a 49-year low -- the National Police Agency said Monday.

Japan Times online said 2005's total reflects a decrease of 487 fatalities from 2004. The number has dropped for five straight years and dipped below 7,000 for the first time since 1956.

The death toll for 2005 was just 40 percent of the figure for 1970, when traffic fatalities hit a postwar record of 16,765.

Traffic death figures only count people who die within 24 hours of an accident.

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