Tokyo: The Japanese government has introduced stricter regulations for converting foreign driver’s licenses in response to a series of accidents involving foreign drivers. Under the new rules, nonresidents are no longer allowed to use the license conversion system, a change aimed at enhancing road safety.

According to Lao News Agency, applicants seeking to convert their foreign licenses must now provide a copy of their Japanese residence certificate. Previously, short-term visitors could list hotels or other temporary accommodations as their address. The knowledge test component has also been made more challenging, increasing from 10 to 50 questions, with a pass mark requiring 90 percent correct answers. The test remains accessible in 20 languages.

The driving skills test has been expanded to include evaluation of how examinees handle pedestrian and railroad crossings. Japanese nationals returning from abroad can still convert their foreign licenses by submitting their family register certificates. However, foreign nationals who have obtained a Japanese license will not be able to renew it without a residence certificate.

The changes come in response to criticism from lawmakers who deemed the previous conversion process too lenient. The old system allowed candidates to pass by correctly answering just seven out of 10 questions. The number of foreign license conversions has more than doubled over the past decade, reaching 68,623 last year, as reported by the National Police Agency.

Vietnamese drivers represented the largest group of foreign license converters, totaling 16,681, followed by Chinese and South Koreans. Last year, traffic accidents involving foreign drivers, where they were deemed primarily at fault, hit a record high of 7,286 cases, accounting for 2.7 percent of all traffic incidents.