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You cannot be serious! On Monday and Tuesday there would be some vehicles driving on the right and some driving on the left!
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surely it would be logical to phase something as major as this ...... >>
I heard this story related many years ago by an Irish after-dinner raconteur to a semi-drunken audience. One of the funniest things I've ever heard!
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I think that the UK should send out a team of fully-qualified observers to Samoa, and compile a report after the event so that we can recognise the hazards involved.
I'm sure that one day the UK will have to switch to driving on the other side of the road to fall into line with Europe.
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I'm sure that one day the UK will have to switch to driving on the other side of the road to fall into line with Europe.
We are not the only EU country which drives on the correct side of the road. There are 4.
It is fantasy to suggest the EU would enforce this upon us.
Edited by Alanovich on 07/09/2009 at 11:38
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We are not the only EU country which drives on the correct side of the road. There are 4. It is fantasy to suggest the EU would enforce this upon us.
Only 4 , out of 27 countries (and counting).
Fantasy? A bit severe and melodramatic, don't you think?
Just for the record, and not saying if this is a good or bad thing (because I genuinely don't know, and don't want to talk politics anyway), please consider the following.
1.One of the major aims of the EU is to strengthen Europe's economy by creating an internal free market among the community's member nations with common external trade barriers.
2. The internal market is based on the removal of all barriers which may restrict the free movement of products, labor or capital.
3. The success of the internal market depends on:
a) the removal of internal customs barriers and restrictions on the movement of labour,
b) the removal of fiscal barriers and the creation of a single European currency, and
c) the harmonization of product standards among the member nations.
There are common standards for Agriculture, for example. Why should the automotive industry be except when something as vital as that is regulated?
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LDO, It seemed melodramatic to suggest that they would force us to switch sides.
Throw enough mud and so on.
The undertaking to change the side on which we drive in the UK would be too much for anyone to consider it worthwhile, even on the most cursory of glances. Whatever anyone thinks of the EU, they are extremly unlikely to even suggest it.
Your list is a list of aims. Not a set of immovable policy imperatives.
To illustrate, take you point 3 a) above. The EU merrily allows the UK government to flaunt this aim by setting its own interpretations fo the free movement of goods, for example its "guidelines" on the import of alcohol and tobacco for personal use and it's habit of impounding people private property should it deem a "guideline" has been transgressed.
I see no EU diktat nor initiative to stop the UK government behaving exactly how it wishes here.
Similarly, I see no pressure on the UK nor other non-Eurozone countries to hurry up and join, to address aim 3 b).
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Keeping strictly to discussing car-related issues, and the subject of standardization without making any political points, I think that it is fair to say that there is a lot more of it driven from Europe than there was years ago.
For example, we have the NCAP safety tests, the standards on emissions, the directive to use Daytime Running Lights. The European parliament want to make ESP compulsory on all cars - and they debated it in the summer.
All I am saying (while trying to walk the tightrope of avoiding going into political matters) is that standardisation is firmly on the agenda, and that with the constitutional changes towards majority voting that are taking place this will accelerate (due to fewer veto areas). Given some of the other "Unthinkable" developments in Europe over the last thirty years, I don't think that it is "fantasy" to suggest that Europe could adopt a standard for which side of the road that vehicles should drive on. Nor am I saying if this is good or bad.
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>> We are not the only EU country which drives on the correct side of the >> road. There are 4. >> >> It is fantasy to suggest the EU would enforce this upon us. >> Only 4 out of 27 countries (and counting).
Ireland, the UK, Malta and Cyprus. As a proportion of Europe's population, only the UK is significant (with about 12% of EU population), whereas Ireland has <1% of the EU population and Cyprus and Malta only 0.2% between them.
It seems to me that a switch driving on the right would be advantageous for those who like to drive European or merkan vehicles, but not so good for those of us who like Japanese cars. It would particularly inconvenience those of us who like to save money by buying s/h imports from Japan.
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what about Gibraltar ?
more to the point, was percentage of the world drives R.H.D ? ( India, Pakistan, Nigeria , Malaysia and Indonesia spring to mind )
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what about Gibraltar ?
Gibraltar is statistically insignificant. It's not an independent state, and it's population of 28,875 is only 0.006% of the EU's 500 million population.
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Gib drives on the right already, no?
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Yes - Gibraltar drives on the right, BUT with proper road signs, good road marking, zebra crossings with Belisha beacons, no parking on the approach to pedestrian crossings and so on.
The biggest drawback is the thousands of scooters which while convenient in Gib's narrow & congested streets, are ridden by death wishing idiots.
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"more to the point, was percentage of the world drives R.H.D ? ( India, Pakistan, Nigeria "
You can't call the automotive progess in these countries driving - it's just mayhem. The prevailing tradition/laws have little bearing on the conduct on the road, and you might be safer driving down the middle, anyway.
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Cars with registration plates ending in an EVEN number should switch sides on Monday. Cars with registration plates ending in an ODD number should switch sides on Tuesday. Buses coaches and all commercial vehicles should switch sides on Wednesday. My method would avoid any cofusion and give each group of drivers time to adjust to the new driving conditions - leading to less frustration.
What brand of Cider was that Fifteen pints then?? Love it.
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So that gives them 5 minutes to drag their cars across the crash barriers onto the other carriageway?
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So that gives them 5 minutes to drag their cars across the crash barriers onto the other carriageway?
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Crash barriers? When I visited Western Samoa, (40 years ago). There was a short length of tarmac road and the greatest risk was tripping over well a camoflaged, and possibly well oiled, local resident asleep on the road in the dark (the tarmac retained heat).
Edited by Old Navy on 07/09/2009 at 09:50
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I read about this the other week in the DT and it all came down to money,)for the govt) this is why so many of the islanders were against it apart from the fact all the buses will spill their passengers into the street and many tourists will be killed
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Linked article mentions a 2 day national holiday to keep traffic off the road. Is that when they're going to do stuff like:
- move signs
- move traffic lights
- repaint junctions
- reshape junctions?
Presumably garages which claim 'last petrol before Mx' (where Mx is a motorway) will have to change their signs to 'first petrol after Mx' :-)
Actually according to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_in_Samoa there's only 350km of paved roads, so perhaps it's not that big a deal. Even so, the more you think about it, the more problems there appear to be.
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A few years ago some Irish nationalists proposed that the Republic of Ireland should drive on the right.
The idea was dropped when they realized that in some places the Northern Irish border (which is based on county boundaries) ran along the middle of the road!
Edited by Chris S on 07/09/2009 at 13:17
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'Could the UK drive on the right?'
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8239048.stm
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'Could the UK drive on the right?'
After reading the article, I suspect that the answer is probably a resounding 'no'!
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A few years ago some Irish nationalists proposed that the Republic of Ireland should drive on the right. The idea was dropped when they realized that in some places the Northern Irish border (which is based on county boundaries) ran along the middle of the road!
There is an interesting logical conundrum, if you encountered such a road.
There are 4 possibilities (driving East crossing North, East crossing South, West crossing North, West crossing South). In two of them, you would merely cross over the road and continue on the other side. But in the other two cases, you would be stuck in the middle unable to proceed on either side.
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Correction. On thinking about that again, I think it would be impossible to travel East to West, but both sides of the road would correctly be used by cars moving West to East.
So all border roads would become one-way.
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I am not sure how many on this site have been to Samoa (I had my honeymoon there (on both islands and went to Fiji as well) and it it a fascinating and beautiful place, but you could not describe it as big or the infrastructure as complicated - particularly on the South Island.
You also have to take a lot of care. Each village has its own proportion of pigs and dogs wandering across the road and woe betide you if you hit one. It will be deemed wholly your fault and personal apologies and compensation paid to the local chief. I never went more that 15-20 mph through a village myself.
Having been there and assuming it has not changed that much in the last thirteen years, I assume they will get through it OK.
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Having been there and assuming it has not changed that much in the last thirteen years I assume they will get through it OK.
Doesnt seem to have changed much in the 27 years between our visits, so probably not changed much since your visit.
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I assume they will get through it OK.
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They would do far better to play safe and follow my helpful advice.
Driving on the opposite side of the road is not something to be taken lightly.
I will be there for them, should they need me.
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Talofa
I?m not Samoan but spent a year working there returning 3 years ago and still keep in touch with a number of people there. As others have said it?s a small country with a small population and relatively few cars. There is basically a road looping around both main islands with a number (3 or 4) of cross island roads on Uapolo its relatively easy to circumnavigate each island in a day even stopping to carry out site surveys! Beyond this most roads are single carriageway tracks serving villages. The only 4 lane road in the country is a short stretch along Beach Rd. the harbour front in Apia which I think has some pedestrian islands on it. Outside the capital Apia there are few filling stations, which generally double as village stores. Old Navy and you still need to avoid pigs, dogs and drunks lying on the warm tarmac probably in that order.
Apart from the airport road for international flights and a few bits of urban Apia, roads are fairly deserted both on a Sunday, walking to church is the main movement, and after ten in the evening. One Sunday I drove along the main road to see a hire car coming in the same lane as me, having worked out that I was correct the other car lurched over to the other carriageway then stopped, recently arrived visitors from NZ who had forgotten to drive on the other side. Monday morning isn?t the best time to make a change but I imagine that ?Fa Samoa? meant that having people working on a Sunday to make the change was a non-starter.
As a civil engineer there are precious few designed junctions so little to change. I understand that what few changes to road markings and signage have been made well in advance, probably confused a few Aussie and NZ visitors. This has been pending for a couple of years and much fought against.
The Telegraph article mentions not importing gas guzzlers from the states as an advantage but even though most cars are imported from the states, following a ban on RHD cars from NZ as a safety measure!, most cars are Japanese or Korean models. The Rav4 was the most popular car.
Link to Google map of the only bit of multi-lane road in the country:
tinyurl.com/n9f67b
A9er Should have been cross island roader for a while
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It's time the benighted Europeans changed to driving on the left. The UK is in step - they aren't!
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I see.....the old "Fog in the Channel, Continent isolated"
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We are all at the centre of our own universe - not on the edge of somebody else's.
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If you coined that phrase yourself, then I am very impressed...... Respect!
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If you coined that phrase yourself then I am very impressed...... Respect!
Double Ditto. We need an answer please.
Martin D.
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Absolutely!
We're not European - we are English, Welsh, Irish & Scots.
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The new EU proposals on which side Britain should drive is outlined here -
www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/uk-motorists-f.../
Edited by Robin Reliant on 08/09/2009 at 23:04
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It's a pity the world didn't standardise which side of the road all countries drive on in the early years of motoring. However, it's really too late to do that now because of the number of cars on the road and the expense, danger and disruption changing sides would involve.
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It was already decided long before the early days of motoring. Napolean began the change from left to right in Europe, and Hitler completed it.
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news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8247960.stm
Samoans reliant on bus travel have been stranded by the country's switch earlier this week to driving on the left of the road instead of the right.
All but about 18 of the Pacific island nation's buses are banned from driving because their doors now open onto the middle of the road.
[more in link]
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We're not European - we are English Welsh Irish & Scots.
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Correct, and we live on a scruffy, bankrupt little island off the coast of Europe.
Edited by Old Navy on 10/09/2009 at 16:44
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