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Samoa Switching

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aeronca65t

aeronca65t

Great Pumpkin
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The island nation of Samoa is switching driving sides.

Up to now, they have driven on the right side of the road (like Europe and North America). But they are switching to driving on the left side (like the UK, Australia, NZ, etc).

Apparently, this will allow cheaper RHD cars from NZ and Australia to be imported.
There is some concern about busses, which will now have their entry doors on the "wrong" side.
The last country to "switch sides" was Sweden (42 years ago). They switched to driving on the right side of the road, but Swedish cars already had their steering wheels on the left side.

~Click Here~ for more on the Samoa switch.
 
Kind of makes sense, considering their proximity to other left-side countries.

Makes me wonder what the justification is for St Croix driving on the left. Maybe that's where all the postal-service vehicles go when they retire.
 
aeronca65t said:
The last country to "switch sides" was Sweden (42 years ago).
Click to expand...

Alas, I beg to differ. Ghana switched sides in 1974. I know this from indirect personal experience. I wasn't there in 1974, but in the early part of this decade, I represented the Ghanaian Ministry of Roads and Transport, and spent quite some time in the Ministry's offices in Accra. In the office assigned to me by the Ministry for my periodic visits, there was an old worn plaque unceremoniously located in a desk drawer commemorating the event. It was a nifty brass plate mounted on a wooden plaque, with a little picture of a car switching from one side of the road to the other. I should have taken a picture of it.

B.
 
News-story says it seems to have gone well so far, but they've done a few things to make it easier:

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]The Samoan government declared a two-day national holiday to reduce traffic volume and a three-day ban on alcohol sales to avoid road accidents.

The speed limit was reduced from 56 kph to 40 kph, while speed bumps were installed in many busy areas.

Samoa, which has around 20,000 vehicles on its roads, is the first country to make the switch in nearly 40 years.

Iceland and Sweden did it in the 1960s, and Nigeria, Ghana and Yemen did it in the 1970s.[/QUOTE]
 
What must be interesting is to see how folks "switch sides", as they must do when going from mainland China to Hong Kong or from China to Macau.
There are hundreds of large truck that do that every day.
Other crossover boders like Gibraltar to Spain are probably not too busy.

Macau-China crossover point.
Lotus-bridge-macau.jpg
 
Not a whole lot of roads on Samoa...
 
aeronca65t said:
What must be interesting is to see how folks "switch sides", as they must do when going from mainland China to Hong Kong or from China to Macau.
There are hundreds of large truck that do that every day.
Other crossover boders like Gibraltar to Spain are probably not too busy.

Macau-China crossover point.
Lotus-bridge-macau.jpg
Click to expand...
Could they not have achieved the same result with one simple over/underpass instead of that giant hotwheels track setup? Must have been a government project.
 
So, Samoa is the only part of the islands that's switching...what about American Samoa?
 
Been there a few times. American Samoa is a self governing territory of the US. Samoa, formerly Western Samoa, is a sovereign country. The main island in American Samoa is so small, just around 18 miles in length, when you drive to one end, you have to back up to get to where you started. Just a joke, although there are still many parts of the island that can only be reached by boat.
 
Sounds like Guam, Ray. :jester:
 
As a lot of Samoans have relatives in NZ and Australia,quite a few already have the experience of on the left.Though the centre of the road is the favourite with some. :devilgrin: :jester:

Stuart. :cheers:
 
There are actually 3 islands with 'Samoa' in their name aren't there?
 
We have a small lumber mill town accross the
bay from us,so when I saw the article in the local
paper I thought - "What?".After reading the article,
it made more sense.
I also liked the picture with it,showing a taxi
driving the wrong way!

- Doug
 
.
tony barnhill said:
There are actually 3 islands with 'Samoa' in their name aren't there?
Click to expand...

There are three principal islands and a number of smaller ones.

Western Samoa,where this change is taking place,comprises of two large islands called Savaii and Opulu.

American Samoa consists of more than one island.


Stuart. :cheers:
 
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