The National Police Agency has proposed introducing by around June 2005 a new driver's license category for scooters with automatic transmissions, in light of their rising popularity.
The proposal will create three kinds of license under the category: for large, automatic-transmission, two-wheeled vehicles of up to 650cc, manual-shift bikes of up to 400cc and small ones of up to 125cc.
The mandatory driving lesson time to qualify for tests for the new licenses would be 29 hours for the large automatic two-wheeled vehicles, 15 hours for ordinary motorbikes and nine hours for the small ones.
The required times are shorter than that for manual-shift two-wheeled vehicles by seven, four and three hours, respectively.
People over age 18 are eligible to take driving tests but are required to take lessons with qualified instructors prior to the tests.
The public can submit opinions on the proposal by May 6 through e-mail to kaisei- [email protected], by fax to (03) 3581-9337, or by post to the agency's traffic bureau.
Telephone calls will not be accepted.