Japan Today has the story [emphasis added]:

TOKYO — People aged 65 or above accounted for 44.2% of those who died in road accidents in 2006, the highest ratio since 1967, when comparable data first became available, according to a National Police Agency survey released Thursday. With the proportion of elderly victims exceeding 40% for the fourth straight year, the agency said it will continue focusing on measures to curb road deaths among the age group.

According to the survey, the overall number of road deaths in Japan came to 6,352 last year, down 7.6% from the previous year. Of them, 2,809 were aged over 65. The elderly were most likely to die in road accidents while they were walking, with 1,357 of the dead in that age bracket being pedestrians, making up 66.2% of pedestrian deaths in road accidents last year, the report said. The number of elderly cyclists killed in road accidents was 475, accounting for 58.5% of road deaths of cyclists in the year.

I can’t say that I’m shocked by these statistics. Almost every day I am forced to swerve my bike when elderly people simply dart out into the middle of the road, oblivious to their surroundings. I’m a pretty safe cyclist, but I consider myself lucky that I haven’t collided with an old person yet…