Elderly given discounted funeral if they quit driving

ELDERLY drivers in Japan have been offered discounts on funeral services if they hand over their driving licences, in a bid to cut down on dangerous road users.

The macabre incentive forms part of the Japanese government’s latest attempts to get geriatric drivers off the roads, following a series of fatal accidents.

The country was particularly shocked by the recent case of an 87-year-old who killed a six-year-old boy after he lost control of his car and mowed down a line of children on their way to school. The pensioner later claimed that he “didn’t remember where he had been”.

Those who give up their licences will be offered 15 per cent discounts at Hwinkaku Co, which has 89 funeral homes in Aichi prefecture.

The discount is only offered to Aichi locals who can provide proof that they surrendered their licences to the police.

According to The Japan Times, drivers aged 75 or above were responsible for 13 per cent of fatal road accidents that occurred in Aichi in 2016. In some cases, elderly drivers confused the accelerator with the brake pedal, or vice versa.

The likelihood of an elderly driver being able to regain their licence is very low – in 2015 the return rate in Aichi was just 2 per cent.

It is not the first time drivers of advanced age in Aichi have been invited to give up their cars for small perks. In November 2016, police offered a 15 per cent discount on noodles to drivers aged 75 and over, which applied to 176 branches of the restaurant Sugakiya.

Japan suffers from an ageing population that is expected to see the number of citizens aged 65 and above increase to 40 per cent by 2055.