The nation's traffic death toll for the year topped the 4,000 mark Wednesday, two days behind last year, the National Police Agency said Thursday.

By midnight Wednesday, some 4,005 people had been killed in traffic accidents since Jan. 1, the agency reported.

As of Wednesday, Tokyo led the list of prefecture-based death tolls with 197, followed by Saitama Prefecture with 192 and Chiba with 190, it said.

Tottori Prefecture had 18 fatalities, the smallest number among all prefectures, followed by Shimane with 26 deaths and Okinawa with 29, according to the agency.

Traffic death statistics only include people who died within 24 hours of an accident.