69-Year-Old Harley Davidson Rider Has Been On The Road Without A License For Over 50 Years

By Quinny Tan  •  28 Jul 2022 in News

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Remember last month when we all rushed to the post office to renew our driver’s licenses? Some of us found out that the expiry date had gone by a long time ago without even realising it.

But it’s different for this guy. Japanese citizen Tatsuo Matsumoto has been on the road without a license for over 50 years. And no, it wasn’t because he didn’t renew it – he never had one in the first place.

According to Malay Mail, it all started in May 15 this year when he got himself into an accident in Tokyo. He probably guessed that reporting the accident to authorities would only cause more harm to him than good, so he fled the scene.

The driver of the victim wasn’t injured, but the crash left an impressionable dent on the vehicle. The cost of repairing the damage went up to 400,000 yen (RM13,148), according to Sora News.

The Harley Davidson rider was later caught after two months of Tokyo Metropolitan Police hunting him down, through the dash cam footage of the car from the accident that filmed his vehicle’s registration number.

Matsumoto tried to escape through narrow paths that only a motorcycle could fit through, but the officer chasing him was relentless and jumped out of his patrol car to continue the chase on foot, eventually catching the perpetrator at a dead end.

Matsumoto’s original defence when asked for his license was that he had left it at home, but upon further interrogation he admitted that he didn’t have one.

The 69-year-old explained that he actually tried to get his license six times since he was 17, which was also the age when he started learning how to ride from a high school senior.

The senior citizen never could pass the test, so he eventually gave up his efforts and decided to stop trying in the 1980s. Imagine trying to get away with this in Malaysia. 

However, this wan’t his first rodeo. There were two other incidences prior to this offence, once in his teens and the other when he was in his 50s, about 20 years ago. They both resulted in fines.

Make sure your licenses are renewed!