The development of self-driving cars featuring state of the art artificial intelligence technology is the buzzword in the auto industry today. But automakers can also contribute to traffic safety by developing and promoting the use of mechanisms that prevent accidents caused by the driving errors of elderly motorists, whose risk was highlighted by a series of fatal accidents late last year.

In 2016, the number of deaths in traffic accidents fell 5 percent from the previous year to 3,904, falling below 4,000 for the first time in 67 years and a significant improvement from the worst year of 1970, when 16,765 people were killed. But the number of victims 65 or older hit 2,138, accounting for a record 54.8 percent of the total — a fairly high figure among advanced economies. Police statistics show that drivers 65 or older were primarily responsible for nearly a quarter of the roughly 3,600 fatal accidents in 2014.

Three car accidents caused by senior citizens — all in their 80s — in October and November killed a total of four pedestrians and injuring several others. In Yokohama, a man who police subsequently suspected suffers from senile dementia drove his light truck into a group of schoolchildren. In western Tokyo, a women who hit pedestrians inside a hospital compound is believed to have mistaken the gas pedal for the brake pedal. According to the Institute for Traffic Accident Research and Data analysis, about 6,000 accidents caused by similar errors on the part of drivers are taking place nationwide annually.