Traffic police here are on alert over a sharp increase in the number of road accidents involving elderly drivers.
According to data from the National Police Agency, the total number of traffic accidents in the country decreased from 231,990 in 2009 to 223,552 last year, but the figure for those caused by drivers aged 65 or older rose from 11,998 to 20,275 over the same period. As a result, elderly drivers accounted for nearly 10 percent of road accidents that took place last year, up from 5.2 percent five years earlier.
Some aged drivers tend to drive too slowly, hampering the smooth traffic flow. Their weakened physical and cognitive functions make them more susceptible to driving errors. Traffic police officers were perplexed by an 85-year-old man who failed to give a valid explanation on why he had driven his car into a shop in a provincial city earlier this month. They made him take a dementia test.
What is further worrisome is that the number of elderly drivers will continue to increase with the rapid aging of the country’s population. Police estimate the number of drivers aged 65 or above, which currently stands at about 2.3 million, to exceed 2.5 million next year.
These trends raise the need to make physical checkups and aptitude tests for aged drivers more precise and conduct them more frequently. Currently, there is no effective tool to screen out inept senior drivers as a simple aptitude test ― virtually a mere eye exam is taken every five years.
Police have tried to induce elderly drivers to return their driving licenses by offering some incentives. This effort, however, has invited resistance from many senior citizens who argue their age should not be a reason for discrimination. A separate attempt to encourage elderly drivers to receive education on traffic safety has not been so successful, with only about 1,600 seniors having attended the three-hour course since its inception last August.
Though it may be difficult to introduce an age limit anytime soon, it seems necessary to implement a precise test tailored for older drivers, as has been done in the U.S. and other advanced nations. This should help elderly drivers have an objective perception of whether they are capable, both physically and cognitively, of continuing to sit at the wheel. For their part, aged drivers need to be more open to receiving more thorough and frequent tests to avoid causing accidents that threaten other people’s lives.
The case of elderly taxi drivers should be handled with more urgency. Passengers often feel uneasy while riding in a taxi with an elderly driver. In addition to conducting more accurate and frequent tests for them, it may be worth considering Japan’s regulatory scheme, which prevents people over the age of 65 from buying a taxi license and individuals older than 75 from selling one.
