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On October 22, the Ministry of Public Security held a press conference to announce 12 new policies related to the management of motor vehicles, which most interested netizens than the "abolition of the application for a small car, a small automatic transmission car, moped driving license 70 years of age ceiling."
This means that you can get a driver's license even if you're over 70 years old, which, according to the relevant authorities, is a new need to adapt to the development of an aging society. For the application for a driver's license for the elderly over 70 years old, the relevant departments will increase the increase in memory, judgment, reflexes and other ability to test to ensure that the physical conditions meet the requirements of safe driving, and need to be carried out once a year physical examination.
It looks like there's one more place for seniors to go in their old age -- in addition to square dancing, driving their grandchildren to and from school, and fishing and planting flowers. In the long run, this will help boost car sales (including used-car distribution) and boost related GDP growth - the more seniors there are in society, the bigger that market will be!
With the pros out of the way let's talk about the cons. A large number of elderly people driving on the road is likely to increase the cost of traffic management. And we can't rule out the possibility of elderly people dying suddenly while driving, leading to serious traffic accidents. Personally, I think the most valuable application of self-driving technology, and the one that is easiest to pass legally, is to take over the driving of the vehicle when the driver suddenly loses consciousness, pull over safely, and then call for help.
So what do driving schools think about this new rule?
In this regard, AutoLab spoke with Mr. Zhao, the person in charge of enrollment at a driving school. Mr. Zhao said that before this, the only way for Chinese people to get a driver's license is to first enroll in a car, and then take a driver's license after learning to drive, and then take a driver's license is the "final step" of learning to drive, "learning" and "testing". The license is the "last step" in learning to drive, and the "learning" and "test" have a continuing and subordinate relationship. If the law at the time allows elderly people over 70 years old to apply for a motor vehicle license, then the driving school can not refuse the application of elderly people over 70 years old to learn driving in the driving school.
But later the "learning" and "testing" were separated, and learning to drive and getting a driver's license are two separate systems, and many returnees have not learned to drive in a domestic driving school, but have directly enrolled for a domestic driver's license. At present, the registration of driving license is still undertaken by the driving school, the driving school does not have the right to refuse people over 70 years old to apply for the test, but have the right to refuse people over 70 years old to register to learn to drive - "Driving training is not mandatory education, for example, parachute jumping and scuba diving skills training, different schools have their own age limit! "
According to Mr. Chiu, accepting people over the age of 70 to learn to drive would increase costs and risks for driving schools.
Mr. Zhao said his driving school had previously accepted a 68-year-old student, said to be the father-in-law of a leader, who had been placed in the school because he had always wanted to learn to drive. No instructor is willing to take over such a student, and then the driving school with the lottery way "forced to send" before the special student arrangements down.
According to the usual practice, a coach with three students at a time, **** with a coach, has been safe and sound. Later, when the subject subject three, to drive on the road, the problem is concentrated outbreak - the old trainee driving, senses and reaction are slower than the young trainees half a beat, resulting in the road danger, and finally the car scraped, even the police and then called the insurance company, delayed a lot of time. So much so that the other two trainees were never willing to **** with a car again after that.
The coach has become the exclusive coach of the 68-year-old student, and the coach has become his "personal coach". As we all know, the number of students as well as the teaching cycle determines the income of the coach of the driving school, so the coach in the subject of the three is not yet finished, resigned to give up and turn to another driving school. The school had to use a lot of promises to persuade another coach to take over, and finally let the "leading father-in-law" to get a license to go.
Since then, Mr. Zhao's driving school has never accepted a student over the age of 60.
Mr. Zhao said, in fact, do not rule out some of the 70-year-olds mental and physical condition is very good, the sensory response is also very sharp - this belongs to the "small probability of excellence" category. But for the driving school instructor, in-depth understanding before, he is no way to determine whether the elderly students belong to the "small probability of excellence". In other words, the traditional driving school is not willing to take the risk for the "small probability of excellence", so the probability of the practice can only "one size fits all".
In fact, the driving school's approach is also correct. In the end, it is the traditional driver training model and the new era of learning needs conflict.
How to meet the needs of the elderly to learn to drive?
When the country liberalized the 70-year-old age limit for driver's license applications, it actually opened up another dimension of business opportunities.
Most seniors who learn to drive and take their licenses don't actually have a pressing need to drive to a large extent.
These older people when they were young under the planned economy, when the ordinary people can not afford to buy a car, the car is the unit, the driver is bull, many young people at that time more or less longed for the driver's career. Later, the people have money, you can buy a car, but people are also old, but before the driver's vision there is still warm.
Whether it's square dancing or indulging in health care sales, the essence is that the elderly are afraid of being alone, afraid of being out of touch with society, and afraid of not being able to reflect their own values. In this case, for the elderly, the social role of learning to drive is greater than the actual skills training. Money is not a problem, the elderly care more about the process of learning, rather than the results of learning - just like the current "University of the Elderly".
Since there are universities for the elderly, there should be driving schools for the elderly. Their training methods and even test aids should be adjusted for the elderly. For example, the subject of a test, the elderly for computer operation is not skilled, this time there should be relevant personnel to operate to assist.
In addition, can be launched for the elderly college one-on-one private tutoring services, fees higher than the traditional driving school, the instructor has undergone relevant training, can understand the psychology of the elderly, know the elderly first aid program, can provide better service to the elderly students. In addition, if you can use the red flag sedan as a coach, it would be great - people in that era have more or less a plot for the red flag sedan.
Additionally, we cannot rule out the need for the elderly to form a team to "charter a coach", three old men or women with good relationships can charter a coach a coach. In this case, how to grasp the lesson time as well as control the risk, is the need for the relevant organizations to study.
In short, the elderly driving school market, the future may be no less than the elderly health care market.
How do foreign countries face the problem of aging drivers?
Unlike China, which has liberalized the age limit for applying for a driver's license, the policy trend in many developed countries is to tighten it. Comparatively speaking, developed countries around the world are experiencing the problem of aging drivers earlier than China.
Japan plans to issue special licenses for older drivers and restrict them from buying cars with special safety features -- such as AEB active emergency braking systems, anti-brake misstep systems and other active safety technology. According to Japanese data, the number of cases of elderly drivers using the gas pedal as a brake has been high.
In addition, Japan is piloting the replacement of specially recognized license plates on models targeted at older drivers, so that other drivers on the road will be alert enough to see the car. Interestingly, this trick is very good, many Japanese elderly drivers who were reluctant to give up their driver's license, in the "elderly license plate" after the change, they voluntarily surrender and give up their driver's license.
The reason for this is that the Japanese people, especially the elderly - in Japan on the subway bus to the elderly is a very unpopular behavior, because the Japanese elderly people in the heart of the old, do not want to be regarded as the "old man". With this kind of mentality, how can an elderly driver be willing to put up with the government putting a license plate on his car that is unique to elderly car owners?
In Germany and some U.S. states, the government prefers to tinker with the auto insurance system -- the older the driver, the higher the premium, which prompts many older drivers to give up their licenses. However, insurers still offer a 10 percent discount for vehicles equipped with AEB active emergency braking systems.
There are other countries that limit the amount of time and distance seniors can drive each day -- no driving during peak commuting hours, for example, and no driving 10 kilometers away from their residence ...... grocery shopping is OK, but not self-driving!
I think it's time for China to learn from this.
This article comes from the author of the automobile home car family number, does not represent the views of the automobile home position.