The death toll from traffic accidents in Japan during the 10-day peak summer holiday period through Thursday dipped 0.6 percent from a year earlier to 175 people, the lowest since 1970 when comparable data was made available, the National Police Agency said Friday.

The number of traffic accidents during the period totaled 25,461, declining 3.4 percent from the previous year, with the number of people injured also falling 2.2 percent to 33,061, the agency said.

Among those who died, 75, or 42.9 percent, were age 65 or older, according to the report.