Taipei: Taiwan’s Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) is planning new restrictions on elderly drivers in a bid to improve traffic safety. Chang Yao-hui, a deputy section chief at the MOTC’s Highway Bureau, said Tuesday the ministry is advancing reforms in four areas. These include revising physical and cognitive function tests, requiring drivers to complete traffic safety education before renewing a license, mandating field training for traffic violators, and offering travel card subsidies to seniors who voluntarily surrender their licenses. “The goal is not to take away licenses from the elderly, but to help them drive safely,” Chang said.

According to Focus Taiwan, more than 20 outreach sessions have been held at temples across Taiwan to explain the planned changes. Chang added that the number of licensed drivers aged 70 and older is projected to increase from 1.8 million to 2.7 million over the next decade. A car collision incident on May 19 in New Taipei’s Sanxia District involving a 78-year-old driver surnamed Yu, in which four people including the driver died, brought renewed attention to the issue of elderly drivers. That month, the ministry proposed lowering the age threshold for license renewal from 75 to 70 and said detailed regulations would be announced within three months.

Pai Chih-wei, a professor at Taipei Medical University, stated that drivers over 75 are 2.44 times more likely to cause fatal pedestrian crashes than those aged 41 to 64. “The older the driver, the higher the risk of pedestrian fatalities or serious injuries,” Pai said, citing more than 426,000 cases recorded by the National Police Agency between 2011 and 2023. The professor noted that crash rates for drivers aged 65-74 and 75 and above have not significantly declined since the MOTC introduced its elderly license renewal system in 2017. While acknowledging that aging can impair vision, reaction time, and cognitive function, Pai emphasized that the system’s direction is correct and necessary.