Overview
- The expert advisory panel reported Thursday that it wants to add a "direction change" maneuver and explicit left/right "safety confirmation" to the practical driving test for drivers aged 75 with recent violations.
- The panel proposed specific penalty points so a major one-time stop can cost 40 points, direction-change faults 20 points, and failures to check left or right 10 points, with a cumulative 31-point threshold triggering failure.
- Police tracking found that people who passed the current practical test later had 2.8 times more accidents and 1.9 times more violations than similar older drivers who were not tested, driving the review.
- Pilot runs at Tokyo and Osaka license centers that included the new items lowered the pass rate to about 81.6 percent, roughly 12 points below the current figure.
- The National Police Agency plans public consultation and an amendment to the Road Traffic Act enforcement rules before aiming to put the revised test into effect in fiscal 2027, a change that could reduce renewals and affect older drivers' mobility.