How Japan’s carmakers are redesigning vehicles for elderly drivers

A fatal 2019 Tokyo accident caused by an 87-year-old highlighted the issue of ageing drivers on Japanese roads, with many returning their licences

Toyota, Subaru and Nissan are all using smart technology and even AI to make cars more user-friendly and safer

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Police officers inspect the scene of a car accident in 2019 in which an elderly driver smashed into pedestrians at a Tokyo intersection, killing a woman and a girl on a bicycle and overturning a garbage truck. Photo: Kyodo

Published: 11:15am, 19 Jan 2021Updated: 11:24pm, 19 Jan 2021

Carmakers in Japan, where almost 30 per cent of the population is 65 or older, are taking the lead on adapting cars so the nation’s legions of elderly drivers can feel more confident – and be safer – behind the wheel.

A run of accidents involving elderly drivers has increased the pressure from regulators to standardise advanced features. Automatic brakes will be required for all new vehicles sold domestically from this year, for example, and car companies from Toyota to Nissan are employing smart technology to make cars more user friendly for older people.

It is also becoming more of a priority as public railways in rural areas disappear, worsening an isolation crisis made only more stark by the coronavirus pandemic. Without any means of getting around, elderly people in Japan are increasingly confined to their homes, their lives shrinking as transport options evaporate.

A recent high-profile fatal accident spotlighted the issue. In February last year, Japanese prosecutors indicted 89-year-old Kozo Iizuka on a charge of negligence resulting in death and injury after a crash in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro district. The former senior bureaucrat was on his way to a French restaurant with his wife in April 2019 when his Toyota Prius ploughed through a crossing, killing a toddler and her mother and harming several others.

The accident made headlines, not least because of Iizuka’s high-ranking government position. Public sentiment swiftly turned against Iizuka, who is back in court this week after pleading not guilty in October.