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After years of driving on one side of the road, Samoans are making the switch. The tiny Pacific island nation has become the latest country to change traffic patterns (the last was Ghana in 1974), but Samoa’s change-up is unique in that it is actually switching from right-hand traffic (used by 70 percent of the world’s nations) to left-hand traffic. Why? Supposedly to improve access to used vehicles from Australia and New Zealand. But as the Wall Street Journal reports, not everyone is happy with the switch. The People Against Switching Sides, or PASS campaign has held protests, villages have refused to change over and petitions have been signed. The problem with debates about traffic, though, is that compromise isn’t exactly an option.
14 Comments on “Samoa Switches Sides...”
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Err, actually they are switching from LHD to RHD since they will now be driving on the left side of the road. And if you’re going to drive on the left, driving an RHD car is certainly preferable.
I guess people don’t always like change. They should ease it in gradually so as the change is easier to take. You know, make it optional for a month, then make it mandatory but give everyone a month’s grace and then make it permanent. Or alternatively, they could move all the trucks and buses one month and then all the private vehicles the next month! You know, anything for a quiet life!
I’m indecisive and I don’t like to offend anyone, so I just compromise by driving in the middle.
This is what they get for doing the Humpty-Hump.
Are there any large car-repair chains in Samoa that one could invest in before this takes effect?
Her’s how the Swedes did it (the other way) in 1967.
Sweden switch
It took ten minutes, from 4:50 to 5:00 am one day. Everyone has to change at once or many people are going to be killed. The Swedish public was against the change, 83% against versus 13% for and 4% spacemen.
lol Yes the Samoans were never the same after that song.
Like th009 said; they’re rejecting the West and moving over to RHD.
Can’t they just try it a few cars at a time to see how it works?
The main reason for the change is for safe compatibility with the used cars from Australia, New Zealand, and Japan that make up most of the on-road fleet in Samoa. Wrong-hand-drive cars create line-of-sight safety problems in all kinds of different situations ranging from overtaking and merging to turning from a side street into a main arterial.
What made this a non-issue for Sweden in 1967 was that most of their vehicles were wrong-hand-drive before Dagen H; once they switched from LH to RH traffic, most of the cars already on the road became correct-hand-drive. Things are a little different in Samoa, but the PM is right; it’ll sort out in short order.
In Sweden, most everyone with a car newer than 1956 and without French-made headlamps had to buy new headlamps that produced a low beam for RH rather than LH traffic, but this was easy and cheap at the time, for most of the cars on Sweden’s roads used inexpensive headlamps, most of them simple round units. That’s no longer the case; most all cars everywhere use expensive model-specific lamps. This will either be a non-issue or a big, costly hassle in Samoa, depending on whether they decide to give a crap whether the headlamps are correct or wrong for the traffic-handedness.
Pch101 :
August 24th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
I’m indecisive and I don’t like to offend anyone, so I just compromise by driving in the middle.
Thumbs up to this one! I’m the same way.
To TomH
From Samoa’s perspective, they are rejecting the East.
Wow! Ford Australia, GMH & Toyota get another export market.
Isn’t it more a question of different fittings than different lamps