Elderly drivers wreaking havoc on Japan's roads

Tokyo

ELDERLY Japanese drivers are wreaking havoc across the country: breaking through median barriers into oncoming traffic, ploughing over pedestrians crossing the road, and smashing into other cars. In all these cases, somebody was killed.

And as Japan's population continues to age - meaning more and more older drivers are behind the wheel - the problem is only getting worse: Drivers aged 75 and over were connected to 459 fatal accidents last year, 13 per cent of Japan's total, up from 7.4 per cent a decade earlier, National Police Agency data show. Stopping the carnage on the roads is an "urgent problem", the agency said.