Concerns raised over elderly drivers following fatal car crash

New Taipei, May 20 (CNA) Although the cause of a car crash in New Taipei on Monday that killed three people and injured 12 has yet to be clarified, concerns have been raised over the fitness of elderly drivers and the system used to renew their driver's licenses.

The deadly car crash occurred at around 4 p.m. when a speeding car driven by a 78-year-old man surnamed Yu (余) slammed into pedestrians at an intersection near Bei Da Elementary School.

The incident left three people dead -- a woman in her 40s and two female students in their teens -- with 12 others injured, including the driver of the vehicle and a 12-year-old female student who are both still in critical condition, local authorities said.

New Power Party Chairwoman Claire Wang (王婉諭) said in a statement Tuesday that although the cause of the incident is as yet unclear, multiple factors may have been involved.

She cited the lack of measures to slow cars down on roads near schools, the ineffective elderly driver license renewal system, and the absence of regular re-training for drivers as factors that could have prevented the incident or reduced the likelihood of it happening.

In terms of the license renewal system, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications started requiring eight years ago that those aged 75 and above renew their license every three years, Wang said.

The problem is that it only applied to individuals who were not yet 75 at the time, meaning that seniors who were already 75 back then are now over 83 years old and still not required to renew their licenses, she said.

Even worse, Wang said, due to a three-year grace period, the 75-year-old renewal threshold was effectively delayed until age 78.

She urged the government to lower the renewal age to 65 or 70 and incorporate road tests or simulated driving assessments.

Last year in Taiwan, over 100,000 traffic incidents involved seniors aged 65 and above, resulting in 1,225 deaths and more than 73,000 injuries, according to Wang.

Those figures were actually higher than before the implementation of the new license renewal system, Wang said, highlighting how ineffective the current measures are at promoting road safety.

Meanwhile, Chang Tzyh-chyang (張自強), an advisor to the Taiwan Occupational Therapy Association, said in a statement Tuesday that Taiwan requires drivers aged 75 and above to undergo a medical examination and renew their driver's license every three years, along with taking a basic cognitive test.

However, these methods are unable to fully identify all potential risks, said Chang, who suggested adding other components such as simulated driving tests, on-road driving assessments and reviews of basic traffic safety knowledge to any driving evaluation.