99 Year Old Driver Crashes and Gets Fined
At what age should a person stop driving?
A 99 year old man was fined 300,000 yen after driving the wrong way in a tunnel in Gifu Prefecture, crashing headfirst and severely injuring another driver in an oncoming car, according to police. The elderly driver was fined for “causing bodily injury through negligence” after hitting the car driven by a 41 year old man. The 99 year old made a U-turn near the exit of the tunnel, then drove on the wrong side for 3.7 kilometers before causing the accident.
As the population in Japan ages, the number of accidents involving elderly drivers is on the rise. Police are calling on elderly drivers to surrender their drivers licenses. This is a difficult problem, especially in rural areas where there are fewer public transportation options.
2 comments:
The first and obvious punishment should be to lose your license if you make such a mistake - you are not fit to drive.
If you severely injure another person or damage property, you should pay compensation for medical costs/repairs and loss of income.
The sad thing is that in rural areas, people need to use a car or van for their daily errands or work on the farmland. Many of these people are too old to drive or operate machinery.
So no checks on driving ability when elderly in Japan?
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