{
  "id": 5294895,
  "title": "Japan to make driving tests harder for some older motorists",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/03/japan-to-make-driving-tests-harder-for-some-older-motorists-5294895",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-03T09:13:24.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Free Malaysia Today",
    "slug": "free-malaysia-today",
    "url": "https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/world/2026/09/03/japan-to-make-driving-tests-harder-for-some-older-motorists"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Japan plans to toughen driving tests for older motorists in an effort to reduce accidents involving elderly drivers who may confuse the accelerator and brake pedals, police announced on Thursday. Despite a national decline in traffic fatalities, drivers aged 75 and above accounted for about 18% of fatal crashes in 2025, according to the National Police Agency (NPA).\n\nThe expert panel's recommendations prompted the agency to implement additional measures to address the rising proportion of older citizens in Japan's population. Motorists over 75 with a history of traffic violations will be required to complete a direction change maneuver during their practical tests, in addition to the existing five components such as coming to a complete stop.\n\nThese changes follow data revealing that the current mandatory test, introduced in 2022, is insufficient in preventing accidents caused by elderly drivers. Drivers over 75 with prior violations are still responsible for more than twice the number of accidents compared to those without such violations, even if they have passed the 2022 test.\n\nTragic examples include an 85-year-old man who killed a man and woman in their 30s with a shuttle bus in Nagoya, and an 87-year-old man who struck and killed a three-year-old girl and her mother while confusing the accelerator for the brake in 2019.",
  "summary": "Deadly traffic accidents caused by drivers over 75 are on the rise in Japan despite a general downward trend, reflecting the increasing proportion of older people in the population.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 3,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Channel News Asia",
        "title": "Japan to make driving tests harder for some older motorists",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/03/japan-to-make-driving-tests-harder-for-some-older-motorists",
        "published": "2026-09-03T09:04:00.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Free Malaysia Today",
        "title": "Japan to make driving tests harder for some older motorists",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/03/japan-to-make-driving-tests-harder-for-some-older-motorists-5296165",
        "published": "2026-09-03T09:13:24.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}