Up to 60,000 elderly Japanese drivers suspected of having dementia as screening laws tighten
With fatal accidents involving senior citizens becoming a major social issue, traffic laws were revised to require old people to see doctors if the disease is suspected
About 60,000 Japanese drivers aged 75 and over were judged as possibly suffering dementia during the process of renewing their licences in the first year of stricter screening for the disease, the police said on Thursday.
The revised road traffic law requiring elderly drivers to see doctors if dementia is suspected in preliminary screening took effect on March 12 last year with fatal accidents involving senior citizens becoming a major social issue in the face of a rapidly ageing population.
Police said in a report that 2,105,477 holders of driver’s licences took cognitive function tests through the end of March this year, and 57,099 of them were suspected of having dementia.
A total of 1,892 had their licences suspended or nullified, up about three-fold from 597 in 2016. A further 16,115 meanwhile gave up their licences, while 4,517 people stopped their renewal procedure and their licences became null and void.
Some 1,515 others are still in the middle of their renewal procedures, suggesting the number of suspensions and nullifications will grow.