The death toll of fatal drunken driving reached record low since 1990 to 252 in Japan in the year of 2012, the country's National Police Agency said Friday.

The downtrend was believed to be attributed to public increasing awareness of not driving under the influence of liquor and severer punishment against drunken driving, Japan's Kyodo News Agency quoted the police agency as saying.

While the total fatalities caused by traffic accidents declined for 12 straight years and dropped below 4,500 for the first time since 1951 to 4,411 in 2012, down 4.4 percent from 2011, the police agency said.

Among Japan's 47 prefectures, Aichi maintained the highest number of traffic death toll at 235, followed by Hokkaido and Saitama at 200. Tottori marked the least fatalities at 30, according to the police agency. Endi

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