Traffic deaths in 2003 fell by 7.5 percent from the previous year to 7,702 -- dipping below the 8,000 mark for the first time in 46 years, the National Police Agency said Friday.
Still, the figure meant that an average of 21.1 people were killed each day. Traffic fatality figures only account for people who die within 24 hours of an accident.
The NPA attributed the fall in traffic deaths to Road Traffic Law changes that imposed heavier penalties on drunken driving and came into effect in June 2002. Fatal accidents caused by drunken motorists in the January-May period of last year were down 35 percent from the same months of 2002.