Japan IIRC had a change too. At first they drove on the left, like Britain. When the Americans occupied the country, their bases were concentrated on one island (out of 4?), where they mandated normal driving. So Japan for years was the only country with different driving side in different areas. Sometime in the 70’s, I think, they switched the island back to match the rest of country.
Planned well, I’m sure a switch could be done right, as Sweden did. However, Japan, England, New Zealand, and Australia are all pretty isolated areas with minimal auto traffic from elsewhere. I could see a country like Sweden and especially Austria deciding the disruption is unsustainable, as more an more autos cross the border from bigger neighbours. For England, there is no reason that justifies the cost. How many cars come across annually on ferries and the chunnel? Is it that big an issue?
And of course, as the density and complexity of roads (and roadsigns) increases, the cost gets higher.
The vast majority of traffic layouts are reversible; there might be some disruption due to one-sided exits and different merge ramps. I recall a 3-way traffic circle in Australia that had a bypass lane around it in one direction. Then, you have to decide which one-way streets would stay the same direction, and what that does to overall traffic flow, etc. Planning, planning, planning…
It seems to me the big problem in switching would be the rearranging of concrete curbs around turn lanes in the centre of the road. These are much more commopn that interchanges. All the right-turn lanes would have to be replaced by left-turn lanes, which means that the curbs would have to be moved from the right of the lane to the left.
(Or would that be such a problem due to the prevalence of roundabouts?)
For a long time I had a theory that the only countries that drove on the left were islands, like the UK, and Japan. I didn’t know about the left-driving countries in southern Africa or southern Asia.
It was interesting to read that parts of Canada (the British-originated settlements) drove on the left until the 1920s. I have been unable to find internet-accessible archival pictures of city streets (in, for example, Vancouver or Halifax) clearly showing this. (Ontario has always driven on the right because it was originally an outgrowth of Quebec.)
The most recent example of a country switching driving sides is Samoa, which changed from driving on the right to driving on the left in September last year. Of course, it’s a tiny, island nation without a lot of complicated, highway infrastructure.
Sure, there’s only 20 million of us, but we’re one of the most urbanised nations on earth. And why would we want to change anyway? Anyone who ‘drives’ here from somewhere else has a boat.
I see it as a way of encouraging tourism. Not only could tourists avoid being mown down while looking the wrong way for approaching traffic, but they would flock in droves to watch the changeover … kind of like a national demolition derby.
The longer the tourists stay, the more they spend. Keep 'em in intensive care for a month or two - cha-ching! Besides, we trade on being dangerous and exotic. Come see the killer crocs, venomous snakes, spiders, marine life, explorer killing deserts, shipwreck coasts - and cars coming at you from the opposite way you expect! Crikey!
It was bad enough for them to change the side of the road the entire country drove on, so it can’t have been exactly good, either.
Someone driving a RHD car on the right (or a LHD on the left) is at a definite disadvantage. The Swedes changed so that the majority of drivers were in the more favourable driving position. In the UK, we’d be putting the whole country in the awkward seat, while at the same time changing the entire road network and rules of driving. I don’t see that having a happy outcome, to be honest.
It occurs to me, too, that the resale value of almost every vehicle in the country would plummet overnight. That would be popular.
That BBC article sums it all up really nicely. It really is a quite beautiful problem - multiple, co-dependent, large-scale, complex factors.
You can’t change one bit until some other bit is in place, and you can’t put it in place until the change is applied. - In dealing with (admittedly much smaller-scale) problems of this nature in, say, software implementation, the only practical methods I can think of would be:
[ul]
[li]Replace the whole system with something entirely different.[/li][li]Develop a number of viable transitional states with the full intention of discarding them along the way.[/li][li]Take the whole system down until all of the changes can be implemented.[/li][/ul]
And I can’t see how any of those would be applicable here - it’s too big to fix - we’re just lucky it isn’t broken.
I don’t think Sweden had many expressways or limited access highways in the 1960s. Simple roads with simple intersections or roundabouts can easily be switched back and forth from RHD to LHD. Today’s roads are more hard-coded for driving on one side, thanks to slip lanes, dedicated turn lanes, complicated roundabouts, and other improvements. Now, a switchover wouldn’t just involve changing signs, but tens, if not hundreds of billions of pounds of public works. That’s not to mention public transit; buses and trams that would require retrofitting or replacement.
I forgot … there’s little mention of the conversion to right hand traffic in Poland in 1931. On March 1, trucks and buses would switch from the left to the right. On April 1, cars would make the switch. On May 1, all other vehicles would make the switch.
I expect to see Guyana switch to right-side driving in the near future. Just last year, they finally got a road leading to Brazil. (Formerly, their road system was isolated.) This means that they now have to deal with traffic switching sides at the border. From what I’ve read, Brazil doesn’t allow Guyanan vehicles to go any farther than the first Brazilian town, but Brazilian vehicles can go all the way up to the Carribean coast. (It’s not hard to see who the dominant partner in that relationship is.) It won’t be long before Brazil is their dominant trading partner, if it isn’t already. That will create an impetus to switch sides so as to accomodate trade and tourism. I think Suriname is the only other country in South America that drives on the left, and their road system is also pretty much isolated.
I also expect that Hong Kong will exventually switch to the right side, being part of China now. Frankly, I’m surprised it hasn’t already.
Samoa recently (as in late last year) made the switch the other way, going from right side to left side driving.
By all reports it caused a lot of political unrest.
From all reports I saw it was a reasonably smooth switch, although with plenty of angst beforehand, and some interesting processes to reduce accidents. Including a two day public holiday, and a ban on all alcohol sales for three days.
You have to take into account though that Samoa is small and has a very basic road infrastructure system. Trying to apply something like up to a UK size would be all but impossible I think.
Even down to small things you might not immedaitely think of - i.e. the exit door on all buses would open into the middle of the road instead of the footpath.
How about my idea then. Starting on a particular day (announced by the government), everyone in Britain drives one foot further to the right than they did the previous day. The transition to a right-handed road system should be complete within the month.
