Last May, a hit-and-run by a Chinese national made headlines across the country, followed by a Peruvian national caught driving the wrong way on an expressway that same month. Pressure was put on the government to review this system, resulting in a vow to make testing stricter from 1 October.
The previous written test involved 10 illustrated questions, such as identifying a stop sign, from which examinees needed to get seven correct to pass. Now, the test consists of 50 written questions, and in addition to the illustrated ones, there are also questions regarding traffic laws and driver responsibilities in cases such as accidents. Also, the passing threshold has been raised from 70 percent to 90 percent, making the test about the same as the first written test that regular Japanese examinees must take.
by SkyInJapan
30 comments
Absolutely fair. Make it even harder, for everyone, honestly.
There’s no place in society for ignorant, unskilled people operating motor-vehicles. That’s a recipe for disaster.
It’s too easy to get a driver’s license in some countries. The new system sets a standard that will be much safer for everyone.
Theres been a lot of quite anti-foreigner proposal recently but this is not one of them. This is one of the bigger problems that a lot of people living here have known about for a long time. Good move for once.
As an Aussie all I had to do was answer some basic questions about driving and take an eye test. I still have no idea what a lot of the signs mean. I do think they need to be a bit stricter on stuff like that.
What’s with the downvotes? I’m siding with Japan here.
Good, but I feel hit and run really isn’t a problem that can be fixed by making tests harder. It’s got nothing to do with skill.
Good? 👍
They should be putting all new drivers here through the racket of getting their license from scratch, whether they drove in their home countries or not. I think that might make them take the responsibility of driving more seriously.
I kind of would like the USA to have this level of quality control for native drivers. Getting a license comes down to showing to the DMV with a pulse while sober and be at or over the age of 16.
As someone who drives trucks in Japan, they need these same failure rates for Japanese nationals. So many idiots on the road.
It’s still easy to get one if you come from certain areas, and the license test has nothing to do with knowledge of the road or skill, so a lot of people touting this as a plus most likely have no idea what the test is or consists of.
Does anyone know if the Chinese national and the peruvian were tourists or long-term stayers?
Transferred my Virginian license a few weeks ago with no issue in rural Japan.
I know this article aims more typically towards pointing out the difficulty for actual countries that have group 1 licenses (Most of the US cannot actually do what I did) but as far as possible discrimination, I didn’t experience it but I’m in a sample size of one. I also have a perfect driving record
So pretty much the same rules for the theoretical test like in NZ or in some European countries
Wait… I thought it was a joke, but quite literally it was only 10 questions????
My students have harder questions and they are 5 years old wtf.
Obviously it plummeted. You went from asking people how to count and do abc’s to how to drive.
As someone who got her Japanese license this spring, there are so many bad Japanese drivers on the road that should not have passed the test.
Good? Safer roads are never ever a bad thing. Look at the state of UK drivers yet we have arguably one of hardest tests.
If you take your driving license from scratch here, you know how tedious it is and the passing score is 90% or above. I’m against raising visa renewal fees, but this one I agree with because it concerns safety for everyone here.
Setting aside the recent changes to the written test passing standards (from 7 out of 10 questions to 9 out of 50, although still an easing from 9 out of 100??), I believe that driving instruction in Japan is fundamentally lacking in practicality.
Current driving skills instruction focuses extensively on maneuvering through acrobatic courses like S-curves and cranks, all evaluated on a demerit point system. This method ultimately teaches students only “how to drive to pass the test,” evidenced by the proliferation of videos offering “tips on how to pass the test.”
However, there is very little instruction on the most crucial aspect of driving: situational awareness and hazard prediction. This lack of practical safety education may be why accidents caused by “bizarre” or “unforeseen” circumstances are not decreasing.
After a student has mastered the basic operations of a vehicle, it would be much more effective to aggressively gain experience on actual roads before receiving a license. The current process of obtaining a license at a driving school often feels like a punishment game.
The written (theory) examination is similar. I believe we don’t need difficult trick questions or those focused on trivial details. Some of the road signs, in particular, are so out of touch with reality they could be described as “bizarre.” What should truly be tested is the understanding of the principles of safe driving and essential traffic laws.
The written test not being wildly easy is great, weeds out people who shouldn’t be driving. The real issue is if the already wildly strict proctors for the driving course will start to fail you for breathing incorrectly
Very fair
Dont know how I feel about this one eh.
On one hand, good, I like that we don’t have as many incompetent fuckwits on the road that don’t know the rules. When I got my gaimen kirikae it was a joke how little I actually had to know. To be fair though, at least I was from a country that at least drove on the same side of the road and had largely the same speed limits and give way rules.
But on the other hand, foreigners make up just 3% of the population, and a lot them live in the cities and use public transport, while people over 65 make up 30%. And since I live in a more rural area where a lot of this older population live, I have yet to drive a single time without seeing some borderline dementia riddled ojiisan break a law of some kind.
And lets not even talk about how shocking everyone in Japan is at actually stopping at red lights or following the posted speed limits. It takes me 30 minutes to drive to the suupa, and I have never made that trip a single time without seeing at least somebody run a red light. Not once.
So like, yes, great, make it harder. But I feel like if they actually cared about road safety, this is absolutely not the group to be going after, and so unfortunately, it really does just feel like another case of anti-foreigner sentiment to take attention away from this governments inability to actually make any real improvements.
It’s a good thing, done for a shitty reason.
Looks like that conversion test was always too easy.
Is the new test closer to what fresh drivers would have to pass? Or still easier? More difficult actually?
If you’ve been driving for a long time you will know most common rules. There are always some more tricky rare cases or rules most drivers will forget over time.
So it **should** be expected you can’t just pass a written test with flying colors based on driving experience only, especially if limited to your home country. Japan has street signs and rules that are unique to Japan, so making people who want to drive there nail that knowledge makes sense, and shouldn’t burden the taker too much (an additional few days of studying?).
—-
Having said that, I am a bit skeptical of the claim that foreign drivers have caused more traffic accidents. Perhaps small ones?
It’s pretty rare to hear of a foreigner causing an accident in the news (can’t remember the last time) and they’d eat that up and put it on repeat, given the current climate. But perhaps the proportion is indeed out of whack.
Now, if there’s a group in Japan causing an oversized amount of traffic accidents, you’d think it’d have to be senior drivers. It seems like almost every other month some old person is running over someone. To be fair, my guess is those are overreported by news as it’s a just something that kicks off discussions and viewer engagement. “Normal accidents” are also reported but never lead to an additional 15 minute segment on old drivers.
I guess it would make sense to subject any driver to such tests when renewing after age 60 perhaps, as well as a reaction speed assessment, etc. (not just the standard eye sight and hearing test). Perhaps everyone should need to retake, to be honest.
I actually failed my UK driving exam right before coming here. I initially thought that it would have been awesome to just convert it, but going to a driving school here was (for some reason) quite an unforgettable experience. I kinda miss it really. The fees are high but absolutely worth it.
Can UK drivers still convert by filing paperwork and a license translation?
This shit is a no-brainer. Good change IMO.
10 illustrated questions. omg i think kindergarten kids get more complex questions than these. no wonder japanese feel like foreigners are getting preferential treatment.
why is it called conversion? cant they issue new licensees based on written and road test like they here in the USA?
I think the correlation between passing a written test and actual driving ability is basically negligible. If they actually wanted to improve driving ability of Japanese and foreigners they would change the driving test to be a course and actually handle more than just random memorized moves and procedures.
Making the test about the same as the first written test that regular Japanese examinees must take. Here in the UK, they must do the same test as everyone else
The test should be harder simply because it was absurdly easy before.
But will this improve safety on the roads? Very unlikely. Most traffic accidents (absolute and per capita) are caused by Japanese nationals that successfully acquired their license through the even more rigorous standard testing process.
Seems like another case of implementing a change that makes sense but doesn’t actually provide any real solutions to the core issue(s).
Comments are closed.