97 Year Old Driver Hits and Kills Pedestrian

Prosecutors in Fukushima have indicted a 97 year old man on a charge of dangerous driving resulting in death and injury after he hit a woman pedestrian and three other cars last month. The woman pedestrian died and four people in the vehicles were injured. 

Kuniyoshi Namishio was driving at a speed of 60 kilometers per hour with no signs of the brakes being used, when he lost control of his minivehicle about 4:45 pm on November 19th. The vehicle hit Hitomi Kawamura, 42, on the sidewalk, then crashed into three other vehicles waiting at the traffic lights. Ms. Kawamura died at the hospital and four other women sustained injuries. 

It was reported that Mr. Namishio did not show any problems on dementia tests when he last renewed his drivers license. 

This story leaves me with so many questions. How old is too old to get a drivers license? Were there any other tests besides dementia tests? Were there any other transportation options for this man? Does this man have any family or friends who could have helped him with transportation in order to prevent this? If this man is convicted, what would the punishment be for a 97 year old? This is a terrible tragedy and I hope something can be done to prevent future crashes involving elderly drivers.  What do you think about this?

Some People Are Allowed to Smile a Little

 The Police Departments are in charge of issuing driver's licenses in Japan. The National Police Agency asked local departments to take a look at their license photo regulations and let up on unnecessary restrictions. Osaka and Tokyo decided to drop their rules against smiling in the license pictures. 

I don't have a Japanese drivers license, but I looked at my now expired North Carolina (United States) license and I'm smiling. I read that the no-smiling rule was in place so that the person's face was in a natural, undistorted expression. So, even though drivers in Osaka and Tokyo can now smile for their license photo, they can't smile very big. Corners of the mouth are allowed to curve up, but lips must stay closed and eyes must remain open. 

I haven't heard about any changes in the photo requirements where I live, so maybe no little smiles here. I'll have to ask my students to see what they know about it.

Are there smile or no smile rules for driver's licenses where you live?

Paper Drivers in Japan

ペーパードライバ?   Paper driver?  Does that sound odd to you? I thought so the first time I heard it, but now I understand.  A person who has a drivers license in Japan but doesn't drive is called a paper driver. I don't understand why someone would get a drivers license and not be a driver because it is expensive and time consuming to go to driving school and get the license. Public transportation is excellent in Japan so unless you live country side, you can get by without a car or license.  (I don't drive in Japan and I admit, it's not always convenient to take public transportation, but I have been able to go and do what I want without driving.) 

Drivers licenses in Japan come in three colors - green for new drivers, blue for regular drivers, and gold for drivers with no traffic violations. That means paper drivers have gold licenses!  If you never drive, you never violate any driving law.  (license photos from the internet)

With a quick search on the internet, I learned that driving school can cost between 240,000 and 340,000 yen, the written examination costs 1550 yen, and the actual license costs 2050 yen. And that's before you pay for a car or a parking space. That sounds like a lot of money to me, even if the license is gold.