The Ministry of Transportation and Communications said that it is considering increasing the age limit for taxi drivers to 70, adding that senior taxi drivers might be required to drive only at certain hours during the day.
Taxi drivers can work until they are 68 years old. After they turn 60, they must pass physical examinations every year to keep working. To renew their licenses, taxi drivers aged 65 or older must not have had their licenses suspended or revoked in the past year, in addition to meeting the physical requirements. Drivers’ licenses of senior taxi drivers are valid for one year.
Taipei City Taxi Business Association president Wang Ming-hsiung (王明雄) said Taiwan has become an aging society and the interests and safety of the taxi passengers should be protected.
Older taxi drivers, on the other hand, should be allowed to continue driving for as long as they can prove that they able to handle the profession’s physical demands, Wang said, adding that some of them are breadwinners for their households and are financially strained.
Statistics from the Directorate-General of Highways (DGH) show there are about 80,000 taxi drivers in the nation and about 27 percent of them are aged between 60 and 68.
The highway authority said it has held several meetings to discuss the details of the physical exam if the government decides to extend the age limit for taxi drivers.
It said that medical experts and representatives from different taxi business associations attending the meetings agreed that taxi drivers aged 68 or older should be required to have a different set of physical examinations, which should include more items and an additional cognitive test.
Taxi drivers aged between 60 and 68 must undergo a physical examination, radiography and an electrocardiogram. Should they be allowed to keep driving until 70 years old, the directorate proposed that they take electrocardiograph, sleep quality assessment and a cognitive test as well.
According to the DGH, the list of items to be checked for senior taxi drivers would be determined in a meeting at the end of this month, in which other regulatory measures would also be introduced.
The highway authority also said that it might propose that senior drivers only be allowed to drive at certain times of the day, adding that it would amend the regulations.
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