An advisory panel of the National Police Agency on Thursday recommended easing rules governing the renewal of drivers' licenses, including allowing renewal applications to be filed in places other than the driver's place of residence.
As an example, panel members said the NPA should allow people living in municipalities outside of Tokyo to complete the license renewal process in Tokyo, if that is where they work, and later receive their new licenses from the public safety commissions in their cities by mail.
At present, Japanese drivers are required to conduct renewal procedures at their local police stations or driver's license centers.
The panel urged the NPA to allow drivers to renew their licenses at any police station in any given prefecture, the members said.
But the panel recommended keeping the current five-year limit on licenses for accident-free drivers, saying, "It is important for drivers to reconfirm once every five years how fit they are and to recognize their responsibility as drivers."
The panel's recommendations reflect the results of an NPA survey of about 10 million drivers, according to agency officials.
The survey found that the number of road traffic accidents involving drivers with newly renewed licenses typically declines for the first two years following license renewal, after which it begins to rise.
According to the NPA, there are more than 74 million licensed drivers in Japan and about 20 million people renew their licenses each year.