While Japanese automakers try desperately to get more consumers into cars, other businesses are teaming up with police to lure senior citizens out of their vehicles. Reuters (via Yahoo News) reports that businesses are offering everything from higher interest rates at banks to free deliveries and meal discounts to seniors who voluntarily renounce their driving privileges. The effort comes as Japanese police try to curb the 100k accidents caused last year alone by Japan's massive over-65 population. "Have the courage to give up your licence," the police say on their website. "If you have lost confidence in your driving … if your family says they are worried about you driving … please think about handing in your license." I wonder if it would work here. Anything to get another stuck-at-40mph LeBaron off the road, eh?
Find Reviews by Make:
Read all comments
Smart – they also have the public transportation and respect for their elders to accomplish this better.
I just want mandatory testing.
If you’re over 75 years, take the driving portion over again. Not being ageist, but facts are facts, reaction time decreases with age. If you can hack it, then you have nothing to worry about. If you can’t, then you shouldn’t be driving, period.
It will never work here. Too much pride.
This has been a dream of mine since I started driving at 15. Not a day goes by that some “over 65” idiot almost causes a wreck, or does something so stupid your jaw drops. I’ve been honked at by old men driving the wrong way on a one-way, I’ve witnessed old men turning left at a light into the very first lane of oncoming traffic (fortunately at a red light.. all of us just sort of.. stared….), I’ve almost had seizures over old men and women drivinbg 15 or 20 in the fast lane where the legal speed is 70, they swerve between lanes without noticing, one old man parked on top of my friend’s vehicle and tried to say that we (the youn’ens) managed to put his car on top of hers, they run red lights all over the place, they back into walls, and they blatantly smack their doors on your car without the slightest care (happened right in front of me yesterday at my insurance agent’s office…).
I can only imagine the horror stories those of you living in big cities have -_-
my great grandfather (87 at the time) had a seizer and blacked out while pulling onto a pretty heavily traveled road. hit 3 cars and totaled his. no one was seriously injured luckily. two months later he was back on the road and with in a week he rear ended someone. family members took his license away…but that didnt stop him as my great grandmother still drove regularly and he just took her keys. needless to say that car was wrecked shortly there after.
in order to get social security benefits you need to retake your drivers test. and every time you renew your license there after.
My grandfather was forced off the road by insurance premiums after he had 4 accidents in 3 years. He suffered from poor reflexes and bad vision. Luckily he did not hit anyone hard enough to injure or cause a fatality.
My Grandmother gave hers up years ago, she no longer felt comfortable on the road.
Not a day goes by that some “over 65″ idiot almost causes a wreck, or does something so stupid your jaw drops.
Speaking of respect for your elders..
Calling them idiots is a bit harsh. Deteriorating vision and reflexes hardly makes you an idiot. While I agree that seniors should be forced to retake the driving portion of the examination (it wouldn’t be a bad idea for everyone, regardless of age), I think we should still treat them with the utmost respect.
Elderly drivers are the second most dangerous drivers after teenagers statistically. But this varies on an individual basis. Frankly my 86 year old grandfather is a better driver than my 58 year old father. I spent time with my grandfather in Europe last year and he handled his manual rental car superbly on tiny the Dutch streets we were on.
The only fair thing is to require more frequent tests past a certain age. But we also need to ensure there are adequate transport alternatives available. Our public transportation is poor in many areas. So just taking licenses may create shut-ins out of otherwise independent people.
This all needs to be done with respect too….some of the anecdotal, generalized complaints here reek of personal immaturity.
Pete_S4: You hit the nail on the head. Elderly people in rural areas are faced with the unpleasant choice of negotiating daily driving or giving up their independence. I can’t blame them for wanting to hang on to their privileges.
And let’s not forget all the other people that cause accidents/headaches on our roads including the cell phone yackers, etc. Last night, driving home from work, every semi I met had a driver talking on the phone. Then again, they’re probably all calling their bankers to try to figure out how they’re going to buy the next tank of diesel.
65 is old? My parents are at this age or older, they are not slow turtles on the road. They are certainly aware in all regards and far from being inept. My father drives a cycle also. In fact, my mother gets away with speeding better than I do!
I certainly look forward to the day when I am old and annoying myself, that I can weasel out of speeding tickets just for being archaic, confusing and generally annoying. I’m over half-way there already! :)
This is political dynamite in most states, especially Florida and Arizona.
I will agree with most of the previous posts on this topic, but remember, these “idiots” were living, working, paying taxes, and fighting our wars for us before most of us were born.
Many of these elderly drivers have lots of money to contribute to political funds and PACs (political action committees), so they have influence in state law and driving laws in their favor. AARP is very powerful. I can only imagine the massive “age discrimination” and civil rights lawsuits that would happen if a serious effort was made to rid the elderly of their driving privileges. Yes, driving is a privilege, not a right, but try to get an elderly person off the road in a far away rural location that needs to go into town to conduct business, get medication, etc.
However, with all of this said, I continue to wonder at the almost weekly news accounts of yet another elderly driver that drove into the front of a grocery store thinking they were hitting the brakes but instead floored the accelerator, etc.
Just remember, we’ll all be that way someday, even the young readers who are at the top of their game today. At 42, I can see both sides of the argument with a little bit of balance.
In is political suicide to piss off the seniors.
In this part of the world voter turnout of seniors is about 90%.Mandatory retest at 65?good luck getting re elected.
Hey, I have to agree with the other posters here lets have a little respect.
Its hard to convice the old folks to give up driving,you have to use some tact.My dad had two at faults in 1 year.Nobody hurt, thank god.I got the insurance people to talk to him.To make a long story short we sold the car to the painter at the body shop.
Oh how I wish he was here today,so I could hear him ask me one more time”Michael,why the hell did you talk me into selling my car?”
Hey, I’m deaf, have 20/199 vision, have relexes like a snail, got my driver license by mailing a form in 1938, and like to drive mountain roads in a 40-foot motor home towing a LeSabre…but I VOTE!
In this country, where driving privileges is almost universal practice and virtually a necessity to get about, giving up driving is very difficult. Mikey, I sympathize. Been there.
My great-grandmother still drove at 90 but was the terror of the little town. One day her old Ford wouldn’t start. Some kin came over and looked at it. The battery was dead. They told her the car was not repairable, and with regret Grandma quit driving.
And yet a major political party is nominating a 71 year old who will be 72 when he takes office as President and will be 76 when he finishes his first term. Already he has trouble getting his facts straight and says goofy things like bomb, bomb Iran and stay in Iraq for a 100 years. Is he quick witted enough to be President but not quick enough to drive a car? A lot of people must think so.
100k accidents in a small country with over 100 million people works out to be about 1 per thousand. Doesn’t sound like many to me. The article doesn’t say what the accident rate is for the non elderly. I would guess that the non elderly up to age 65 have more since they must far outnumber the elderly. I’ll bet a lot of the accidents are fender benders on Japan’s narrow twisting streets.
I would like the critics of the elderly Japanese to go there and drive on the left side of the road while reading Japanese road signs. I bet they would have a lot of accidents too.
The biggest problem with elderly drivers is mental deterioration (dementia, Alzheimers). It is far more important than slow reactions, poor vision, etc. If your mind is still good, you can recognize your limitations and compensate for them. Dementia sufferers are incapable of understanding how much they have lost. Driving the wrong way on a divided highway is a classic elderly driver’s error.
Until we have a cure for dementia, the only solution is to identify its victims and stop them from driving. Because the problem is mental, a written test is sufficent. In severe cases, they won’t be able to take the test, much less get the right answers. State examiners can require testing on request by law enforcement, physicians or concerned relatives.
BlueBrat :
65 is old? My parents are at this age or older, they are not slow turtles on the road. They are certainly aware in all regards and far from being inept. My father drives a cycle also. In fact, my mother gets away with speeding better than I do!
She’s probably better at charming the officer than you.
This whole business is why I’m beginning to hope that they do get self-driving cars, much as I abhor the idea. In most parts of this country, it is really tough not to have a car. I also like the idea of having O plates for people whose driving is getting slow (like the L plates in our Mother Country), so others will know to cut them some slack.
I do know people in their 80s who do fine behind the wheel. My uncle still drives (in Brooklyn and Manhattan no less) and still plays squash at 85.
Dementia and other similar conditions is certainly an issue. However I’d submit the bigger issues are pride and/or a desire not to be a burden that keeps many people from admitting they’ve become dangerous to others on the road.
I can’t really blame these people either. It’s hard to let go of that independence and self-sufficiency. For people that are frequently losing loved ones, body functions, stamina, and so on; it’s just one more thing forcing you to admit you are getting old.
I can admit I’m not always patient with some slower drivers on the road. But it helps to remember that what they are going through is the equivalent of us being thrown in the middle of a NASCAR race everytime we just simply want to drive down the street.
Say, Niedermeyer, when that fellow in the picture decides to give up his classic Mustang, could you let him know I’d be interested in it?