Traffic accidents caused by drunken driving fell 22.5 percent from a year before after tougher penalties came into effect in September, the National Police Agency said.

There were 3,119 drunken driving-related accidents across Japan for the six-month period from Sept. 19, when the revised Road Traffic Law took effect, compared with 4,023 during the same period a year earlier, according to a recent report by the NPA.

The number of fatal accidents came to 172, down 29 from a year earlier.