``Driving while driving'' resulted in 122 fatal and serious accidents last year, highest ever, increasing trend continues

It has been revealed that 122 fatal and serious accidents caused by so-called ``driving while using a cell phone or smartphone'' occurred nationwide last year, the highest number ever.

The National Police Agency has decided to take countermeasures as the number of cases has continued to increase since the introduction of stricter penalties for ``while driving'' five years ago.

According to the National Police Agency, 887 accidents resulting in injury or death occurred nationwide last year due to so-called ``driving while driving'', which involves talking on a cell phone or smartphone or staring at an email screen while driving.

Of these, 25 were fatal accidents, 97 were serious injuries, and 122 were accidents resulting in serious injuries or worse due to "while driving", the highest number since 2007, when statistics are available.

In addition, the percentage of accidents resulting in death among personal injury accidents is 3.8 times higher than accidents not caused by ``while driving.'' According to the National Police Agency, drivers are distracted by screens and fail to recognize or avoid danger. Our analysis shows that there are many cases where this can lead to serious consequences because the actions taken are delayed.

Five years ago, the Road Traffic Act was revised to strengthen penalties for "driving while driving." Although the number of fatal and serious accidents decreased for a while, it has since started to increase, so the National Police Agency has taken measures. We are planning to strengthen this.

National Police Agency Commissioner Tsuyuki: ``Very dangerous, definitely don't do it''

At a press conference on the 7th, Yasuhiro Tsuyuki, Commissioner of the National Police Agency, explained that the number of fatal and serious accidents caused by ``driving while driving'' was the highest. The rate of driving while driving is nearly four times higher, which is extremely dangerous.I strongly urge the public to refrain from driving while talking on the phone and driving while staring at a screen. ” and so on.