Samoa: Switch to Left-Side-of-the-Road Driving Causes a Stir

By Larry Habegger | Permalink | No Comments | August 27th, 2009 | Trackback

Samoa will switch from driving on the right side of the road to the left Sept. 7 to bring the island into conformity with Australia and New Zealand, but many locals are not happy about it. In protest, villagers removed signs urging traffic to “keep left” and painted arrows pointing the wrong direction on roads. Two villages reportedly threatened to force traffic passing through to switch back to the right side. Apart from the inherent danger in trying to break people’s habits, including pedestrians looking the right way before crossing a street, most cars on Samoa are U.S.-style left-hand-drives. A group opposed to the change hopes to stop it in a legal challenge to be heard by the Supreme Court. If the plan goes forward, Samoa will be the first country to switch traffic from one side of the road to the other in more than 40 years.

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