Latest ／ Accident-prone places
Counting Ehime's traffic accidents from public data (2019-2025)
From accident data published by the National Police Agency, we counted the 15,873 accidents that happened in Ehime Prefecture ourselves. This page shows counts by year, city and town, road shape, and time of day, checked against figures published by the Ehime Prefectural Police.
Summary
- From data published by the National Police Agency, we counted 15,873 accidents in Ehime Prefecture from 2019 to 2025.
- The number of accidents fell from 2,811 in 2019 to 2,077 in 2025. Deaths went up and down between 42 and 52 a year.
- In 2025, Matsuyama had the most accidents, 953, which is 45.9% of the prefecture total.
- By road shape, intersections and areas near intersections made up 70.9% of the 2025 accidents.
- We checked our counts against figures from the Ehime Prefectural Police. Year, city and town, road shape, and day or night matched. Month did not.
This article is based on official sources and maps. A record of the operator actually driving this route will be added after the drive.
A driving video is in preparation. When it is published, it will appear here with chapters numbered the same as the points below.
Which data we used, and how we counted
The National Police Agency publishes one record for each traffic accident as “open data on traffic accident statistics” (交通事故統計情報のオープンデータ). We used the main table (one row per accident) for 7 years, 2019 to 2025.
- We took only the rows where the prefecture column is Ehime Prefecture. There are 15,873 rows in total.
- The files have 58 columns in 2019-2021 and 68 columns from 2022 on. So we picked columns by column name, not by position.
- The number of accidents is the number of rows. Deaths and injuries are the sums of the values in each row.
The yearly numbers can be seen in the summary data (JSON) at the end of this page. Anyone can get the original data from the National Police Agency’s public page.
15,873 accidents and 325 deaths in 7 years
Rows for Ehime Prefecture counted from the National Police Agency open data (main table).
Show as a table (7 rows)
| Item | cases |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 2,811 |
| 2020 | 2,404 |
| 2021 | 2,260 |
| 2022 | 2,132 |
| 2023 | 2,115 |
| 2024 | 2,074 |
| 2025 | 2,077 |
Source: 交通事故統計情報のオープンデータ｜警察庁Webサイト (counted by the operator)
The number of accidents fell from 2,811 in 2019 to 2,077 in 2025. Over the same period, the number of deaths went up and down between 42 and 52.
The deaths column of the same data, added up. It did not fall the way the number of accidents did.
Show as a table (7 rows)
| Item | deaths |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 42 |
| 2020 | 48 |
| 2021 | 50 |
| 2022 | 44 |
| 2023 | 43 |
| 2024 | 52 |
| 2025 | 46 |
Source: 交通事故統計情報のオープンデータ｜警察庁Webサイト (counted by the operator)
In 2025, Matsuyama had 45.9%
Counted by municipality code. All 20 cities and towns can be seen in a table of numbers.
Show as a table (20 rows)
| Item | cases |
|---|---|
| 松山市 | 953 |
| 今治市 | 221 |
| 新居浜市 | 200 |
| 西条市 | 180 |
| 四国中央市 | 116 |
| 宇和島市 | 69 |
| 東温市 | 66 |
| 大洲市 | 51 |
| 松前町 | 47 |
| 伊予市 | 41 |
| 西予市 | 34 |
| 八幡浜市 | 30 |
| 砥部町 | 29 |
| 内子町 | 11 |
| 愛南町 | 10 |
| 伊方町 | 6 |
| 久万高原町 | 5 |
| 鬼北町 | 3 |
| 松野町 | 3 |
| 上島町 | 2 |
Source: 交通事故統計情報のオープンデータ｜警察庁Webサイト (counted by the operator)
Matsuyama’s 953 accidents are 45.9% of the prefecture total of 2,077. Imabari (221), Niihama (200), and Saijo (180) follow.
Intersections and areas near them: more than 70%
The main table has a column called “road shape” (道路形状). The 2025 breakdown is below.
The codes in the 'road shape' column, grouped into the categories used in Ehime Prefectural Police materials (intersections are not split by whether there is a traffic light). In the code table, 'near an intersection' means the part within 30 meters of the edge of an intersection.
Show as a table (6 rows)
| Item | cases |
|---|---|
| Intersection | 1,044 |
| Near an intersection | 428 |
| Straight road, etc. | 438 |
| Curve or bend | 69 |
| Other places | 96 |
| Railroad crossing | 2 |
Source: 交通事故統計情報のオープンデータ｜警察庁Webサイト (counted by the operator)
Intersections (1,044) and areas near intersections (428) add up to 1,472. That is 70.9% of the 2,077 accidents in 2025.
If we split them by traffic light, as the Ehime Prefectural Police materials do, 2025 had 335 accidents at intersections with a traffic light and 709 at intersections without one. This count also uses the “traffic signal” column of the main table.
Day and night, and time of day
In 2025, there were 1,599 accidents in the daytime and 478 at night. In the code table, the 1 hour after sunrise and the 1 hour before sunset also count as daytime.
In 2-hour blocks. 16:00-18:00 has the most.
Show as a table (12 rows)
| Item | cases |
|---|---|
| 0-2 | 31 |
| 2-4 | 14 |
| 4-6 | 28 |
| 6-8 | 213 |
| 8-10 | 287 |
| 10-12 | 271 |
| 12-14 | 255 |
| 14-16 | 246 |
| 16-18 | 338 |
| 18-20 | 246 |
| 20-22 | 98 |
| 22-24 | 50 |
Source: 交通事故統計情報のオープンデータ｜警察庁Webサイト (counted by the operator)
Accidents by month
Counted from the month column of the file (発生日時 月).
Show as a table (12 rows)
| Item | cases |
|---|---|
| 1 | 186 |
| 2 | 161 |
| 3 | 150 |
| 4 | 178 |
| 5 | 178 |
| 6 | 144 |
| 7 | 165 |
| 8 | 183 |
| 9 | 161 |
| 10 | 185 |
| 11 | 175 |
| 12 | 211 |
Source: 交通事故統計情報のオープンデータ｜警察庁Webサイト (counted by the operator)
The 1 km squares with the most accidents
The main table has a latitude and longitude for each one of the accidents. We converted all 15,873 accidents over the 7 years to decimal degrees and counted them in grid squares of 0.01 degrees (about 1 km on a side). There were 1,284 grid squares in all. The map below shows the top 30 squares by count. The size of each circle is the number of accidents.
The circles are the top 30 grid squares of 0.01 degrees, by total number of accidents in 2019-2025. The top 30 together make up 28.5% of all accidents.
Made by Ehime Michishirube from “National Land Numerical Information (Administrative Area Data)” (国土数値情報（行政区域データ）, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism) / Counts made by processing National Police Agency open data
The square with the most accidents is in Matsuyama, with 321 over the 7 years.
Shown by the latitude and longitude of the center of each square. These are not place names.
Show as a table (10 rows)
| Item | cases |
|---|---|
| 33.835, 132.775 | 321 |
| 33.835, 132.755 | 226 |
| 33.845, 132.755 | 214 |
| 33.825, 132.775 | 209 |
| 33.825, 132.785 | 202 |
| 33.855, 132.755 | 200 |
| 33.845, 132.775 | 198 |
| 33.825, 132.755 | 185 |
| 33.835, 132.765 | 183 |
| 33.835, 132.785 | 169 |
Source: 交通事故統計情報のオープンデータ｜警察庁Webサイト (counted by the operator)
These numbers show only how many accidents there were. The data we used does not include traffic volume or road structure at each place. From this data, we cannot tell what causes a high count.
Checked against the Ehime Prefectural Police figures
We compared our counts with the numbers in “Reiwa 7 Traffic Accident Statistics” (令和７年の交通事故統計, “Mame Tokei”), published by the Ehime Prefectural Police.
| Item compared | Result |
|---|---|
| Accidents, deaths, and injuries by year (2024 and 2025) | Matched |
| Accidents by city and town (2025, 20 cities and towns) | All matched |
| By road shape (2024 and 2025, 7 categories) | All matched |
| Day or night (2025) | Matched |
| By time of day (2025, 12 categories) | 10 categories matched. 6-8 and 8-10 were each off by 1 |
| By month (2025) | Did not match (differences of up to 22. The total of 2,077 matched) |
The materials did not explain why the months do not match. We did not remove or move any rows to make the numbers fit.
What this data cannot tell you
- There are no finer categories such as “rear-end collision” or “crossing collision.” In the main table’s code table, accident types are only 4: person vs. vehicle, vehicle vs. vehicle, single vehicle, and train. In 2025, vehicle vs. vehicle accidents numbered 1,753 (84.4%).
- We could not extract the contents of the PDF code table for 2019-2021. So we counted those years as if the codes had the same meaning as in 2022 and later. This is not a confirmed fact.
- Each year’s file has a small number of rows whose date is earlier than that year (in the 2025 file, 88 rows, of which 78 are from December 2024). The materials did not explain why.
Sources and processing
The numbers on this page were made by Ehime Michishirube, who counted data published by the National Police Agency. The National Police Agency’s terms of use say this about using content that has been edited or processed:
コンテンツを編集・加工等して利用する場合は、上記出典とは別に、編集・加工等を行ったことを記載してください。なお、編集・加工した情報を、あたかも国(又は府省等)が作成したかのような態様で公表・利用してはいけません。
Translation: “When you edit or process the content and use it, state that you edited or processed it, separately from the source above. Do not publish or use the edited or processed information in a way that makes it look as if the national government (or a ministry or agency) made it.”
Source: 利用規約｜警察庁Webサイト (checked on October 11, 2026)
Following this rule, we state the following.
Source: Made by Ehime Michishirube, who extracted and counted the Ehime Prefecture data from “Traffic Accident Statistics Open Data” (交通事故統計情報のオープンデータ, National Police Agency).
The data used for the counts is at /data/ehime-accidents.json.
Sources
- 交通事故統計情報のオープンデータ｜警察庁Webサイト (retrieved October 11, 2026)
- 利用規約｜警察庁Webサイト (retrieved October 11, 2026)
- 令和７年の交通事故統計（豆統計、愛媛県警察本部） (retrieved October 11, 2026)
- 愛媛県警察 ／ 交通部 (retrieved October 11, 2026)
How we cite sources and use map data is explained in Sources and map data. Most sources are in Japanese.
Read before you drive
- Driving a rental car in Ehime as a visitor from abroad: International Driving Permits, foreign licenses with a Japanese translation, and how long you can drive
Three kinds of license are valid for driving in Japan. We checked the official pages for the International Driving Permit format, the six countries and regions whose licenses work with a translation, how long you can drive, the seven rental companies at Matsuyama Airport, and the Ehime Prefectural Police license conversion rules. - Japanese Road Rules for First-Time Drivers from Abroad: Driving on the Left, Red Lights, Stop Signs, Railroad Crossings, Drinking, Mobile Phones, Speed
Driving on the left, red lights and arrows, the "Tomare" stop sign, railroad crossings, drunk driving, mobile phones while driving, seat belts and child seats, and speed limits on ordinary roads, checked against the original text of the Road Traffic Act, the National Police Agency's Rules of the Road, and the NPA's English materials. - What to do and who to contact if you have an accident, a breakdown, or a road problem in Ehime: 110, 119, #9910, JAF, and your rental car company
Who to contact if you have an accident or breakdown, or find a hole or fallen object on the road, while driving in Ehime. Checked against official sources: Article 72 of the Road Traffic Act, foreign-language service on 110 and 119, the order of steps on an expressway, the Road Emergency Dial #9910, JAF, and the rental terms of the seven companies at Matsuyama Airport.