A total of 217 primary school students or young people in Japan died in traffic accidents between 2017 and 2021, according to data released by the national police on Thursday.
About half of the children are victims of accidents while walking. The agency plans to raise driver awareness and educate children and their guardians during a 10 day national traffic safety campaign starting on April 6.
Primary school students are most likely to suffer serious injuries or die in traffic accidents in June, and preschool children are most likely to have traffic accidents in April.
People of these two ages are most likely to have such serious accidents between 4 and 6 p.m.
Primary school students are more likely to be involved in major traffic accidents on weekdays, while preschool children are more likely to be involved on weekends.

70% of the accidents occurred when pupils crossed the street, and more than half of the accidents occurred when preschool children crossed the street.
In the cases of children breaking the law, the most common cause of accidents is children jumping on the road, with a total of 250 cases. 158 solitary children without adult supervision.
For primary school students, the most common cause of traffic accidents is jumping on the road, with a total of 888, followed by 411 violations related to crossing the road.
“It is important to provide safety education for children and their parents, such as raising their hands when crossing the road,” an NPA official said. “For drivers, we want to make sure they know that pedestrians have priority on the crosswalk and they have an obligation to slow down or stop.”