How to switch a Country from left-hand Traffic to right-hand Traffic
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- Опубликовано: 30 сен 2024
- Did you know that Sweden used to drive on the left? In fact, this traffic system existed until the late 1960s - which led to all sorts of problems. So on September 3, 1967, all traffic was switched to right-hand traffic from one day to another. But how do you do something like that? Let's find out.
A film by Matthias Schwarzer.
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Intro song:
MÆT - Start Again
Music:
Epidemic sound
#Sweden #traffic #Scandinavia
Thanks for watching! Here's more you might like:
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▪ How Malta lost its Bus Culture: ruclips.net/video/Yg1TIDkjOmM/видео.htmlsi=BTtYseB7Qx7_An1i
There is a few more railway footnotes.
When the Öresundsbridge connection was build in year 2000 it was built with Right hand train traffic. This was not a problem at that time because the traffic between öresundbridge connection and Malmö C (that is just a few km ) was change to right hand drive. Both the track to Treleborg and Ystad was and still is Single track, so those was not effected.
And malmö station was a Terminus station at that time. That is, the train drive into it, than switch direction to drive out. Because they swiche direction it was not a issue also switching side to drive on.
This was all well and good until Citytunneln (malmö Train tunnel) was build connecting öresundbridge conection with the malmö Central station via a new tunnel that was a pass throw Station added on next to the old station. This greatly increased capacity becasue trains no longer need to swich direction. BUT the flip side of that, is that they no longer can swich side.
So they had to build a train side swich track. A bit of infrastructure that have the only reason to exist to switch trains from left to right hand side drive. Its actually fairly big bit of infrastructure.
Cordinates for the track side swicher.
55.629004 North, 13.060159 East
What happened to the car fleet?
@@miguelstella2 Is your question related to Sweden changing to right-hand traffic?
If so the simple answer is nothing. Over 99 % of all cars in Sweden already before the change had the steering wheel to the left, in other words more suited for right-hand traffic.
The only change to the cars was that cars having left-asymmetric headlamps had to have them changed and in most cases that was done before the change and the headlamp glass had a silver tape over the "lens"-part creating right-asymmetric light with a text that it must not be removed before September 3rd 1967. (Many cars at that time still had symmetric headlamps and thus didn't require any change at all).
@@miguelstella2 mostly no problem - US cars ie Ford/GM/Chrysler for example was almost completely left hand drive.
The only producers of right hand driven cars was the brittish ones.
Which means that swedish drivers drove from left side of the car - how are you gonna be able to see forward before overtaking ?
No thanks. The reason we in Britain have a cheap used market is because our cars can't be shipped to poor EU nations and easily resold (no one wants them). We can stay driving on the left.
If anyone is wondering, there has been another change much more recently. Samoa changed from right to left in 2009. The government made the change to bring Samoa in line with Australia and New Zealand, where some 170,000 expatriate Samoans live. It is cheaper to import cars from there than from right-side-driving countries such as the US.
Japanese Imports as well, as they're also RHD like cars from AU/NZ
Samoa is a small country, makes sense to import RHD cars from Japan. Nowdays after the switch, Samoans driving JDM cars.
It be interesting to see how they did it and compare it to the above country.
@DavidKnowles0 there's video of it happening from memory. They made a big thing of it, where everyone lined up their cars on the right side of the road leading into the capital, and when the time came, switched over. Might give some idea of how it was rolled out
@@Alozhatos Interestingly, in Mongolia (right hand traffic) they import lots of "wrong sided" Japanese cars that are overproduction from Japan. I was in Ulaanbataar about 8 years ago and almost half of the cars on the road were right hand drive. Seemed dangerous to my western sensibilities, but seems to work for them.
The Swedish change was made far, far easier because the majority of cars on the road at the time were left hand drive ones.
In fact, that was a major factor in the decision. Before the switch, if you wanted to overtake, you'd have to put half of the car into the other lane before you could see whether it was safe to pass; now you only have to move over a tiny bit to see oncoming traffic.
@@Oznej I drive a left hand drive car here in the UK. No problem at all, just hang back a little bit further.
@@TestGearJunkie. Are you left handed or just used to it? I can't imagine driving left hand layout car as right handed person especially in country using right hand layout cars.
@@ミニシュ what are you talking about? it has nothing to do with being left handed. Left hand drive means the driver sits on the left, that's all. The controls are all in the same place right or left.
surely it's harder to see?@@TestGearJunkie.
Many years back, a Systems Analyst trainer we had told us that he'd travelled from UK to Sweden to observe the change for himself. He said that, whilst the change of direction had been carefully planned, the huge influx of casual observers like himself came as a surprise and caused extra problems.
I was seven when this happened and it was very exciting. There was a huge focus on road safety in all forms, we were taught in school to look "left right left" before crossing the street. For a couple of years after the switch all pedestrian crossings had "look to the left" painted by the curb. Speed limits were introduced on all roads, until then there were no speed limits on open roads, only in villages and towns. Also, we had "school police", older children who stood at pedestrian crossings and stopped you from crossing until there was no traffic. I lived in a modest village with around 1500 people but it was taken equally serious there. I also remember that my grandfather more or less forced my mother to go for a drive on the third of september, it was a very special sensation going on the wrong side of the road and the few cars that were out going very slow. I think the speed limit on open road was 50 km/h in the beginning and then increased in steps as people supposedly got more and more used to right hand traffic. It sure was a lucky thing that the politicians at the time didn't listen to the people, imagine doing the same today with so much more vehicles and infrastructure.
They knew it was the better choice and future generations would be thankful for that. Also cheaper on the long run.
I was very young, like 1.5 years old and it's one of my first memories that my dad was "driving on the wrong side".
Nice to read a story from someone who experienced this change.
I've been in Sweden first time (11 years old) with my parents in summer 1967. A few months before that switch. I remember how to switch lanes at the bridge between Norway and Sweden (in 2 directions)
So we drove left hand through that country , the same as I have done now in the UK when visiting there.
A year later , 1968 I was back in Sweden with my parents, we noticed that still not all drivers were comfortable in Sweden.
I was ten when the switch took place. I still remember the "Dagen H" campaign with the H logo. While I didn't drive a car at the time, I did go by bike to school and it felt very funny riding my bike on the "wrong side" the next morning.
I also remember how my father lost track of directions going through a roundabout maybe a week after the switch. My mother was screaming to him that he was on the wrong side. But he managed to correct it without any accident.
I was thirteen when the change took place. I still have one of these black and yellow H-signs hanging in my garage. I "stole" it from a place where there were four of them. I thought tree signs were enough. Nobody cared when I drove home having that sign tied to my bike. People got used to driving on the "wrong" side of the road very quickly. I remember how the traffic was rerouted on old Slussen. That must have been quite a challenge. Btw nobody seems to have noticed that most of the cars in Sweden had the steering wheel on the left side, as far as I remember. Even classic Volvos and Saabs built before 1967 were built that way.
During a long time before dagen-H all cars had to get the lights adjusted for RH traffic and the glass was masked with tape.
When the shift happened and all cars stopped, they got out and removed the masking tape.
I was up all night and tested RH traffic with my bicycle.
My father had been working with the light signal system and my grand father made a fortune to fix the holes after removed power lines from the walls on private buildings.
Brits also have to put them on their cars if we want to take them to mainland Europe
It's a shame we've ending up with two different modes of driving. We should settle on an international standard to improve safety. I suggest a compromise where we all drive down the middle.
I know you are joking. I have driven on both sides. In The US we plow one side of the roads and then plow the other side. When I lived in Canada, Truro, Nova Scotia, they would plow right down the middle. When yoh saw a car coming you would put the right side of the car into the unplowed lane and the other car would (hopefully) do the same.
I think we can solve the import/export problems by legally requiring all motor vehicles to be operated by a tiller
In Cyprus they drive on the shady side of the road (which varies).
Iceland followed suit in May 1968 and no doubt learned all that was needed from the Swedes. I was 18 at the time and had been driving on the "wrong" side of the road for 16 months. The changeover was uneventful and traffic accidents were extremely rare for weeks afterwards - probably because speed limits were temporarily lowered and everyone CONCENTRATED on driving carefully. One thing worked in our favor: Virtually all the cars in Iceland already had the steering wheel on the left side. That really helped.
Most peoples dominant hand is right. That makes it easier and safer to drive on the left side of the road
@@HonestMan112 (Real) citations needed, or I call complete bullshit.
Yeah I imagine such a massive change is actually quite safe to do, if a bit chaotic, as long as it's well informed to the public, because everyone will be scared of making a mistake or slip up. Sorta the same thing with roundabouts vs traffic lights - there's more to consider, and a lower speed required, so people are more observant to incursions. Perhaps also more understanding when others do make a mistake.
I had a somewhat related experience recently. One of our standard roads was converted to a priority road. I felt like this kind of rule change would be dangerous for people who have been driving the road for decades, because they might be on "auto-pilot". In reality, nothing happened and everything was fine. At worst, people gave way when they didn't need to.
@c6ampskill issue 😂 i drive both lhd and rhd and basically the same, there is no wrong or right 😂
@@HonestMan112only matters if you drive a manual car, vast majority of new cars are automatic so becoming academic
Norwegian here! I remember the absolute confusion at the border when Sweden switched to right hand driving 😂 Everyone was used to switching at the border
Also Norwegian, born shortly after Sweden changed. I remember the adults talking about exactly that, that they had to switch sides on the border. To me it sounded completely surreal that someone was even driving on the wrong side of the road. Only later did I realize they still did it in England.
@@ahkkariq7406 The then Minister of Transport said in an interview that the switch will be done in stages, so passenger cars will move to the right at the beginning of June, and heavy traffic in the middle of the month, and pedestrians and cyclists only at the beginning of July... Of Course he was joking, but caused some shock and chaos for a couple of days...
@@mikkorenvall428 Just mandate that heavy traffic change to right hand one and lighter traffic will follow very fast. :D
in my country, Switzerland, trains still drive on the left rail, due to British influence while building the railway system
Same in China. Only subways pass on the right, but intercity trains pass on the left.
I'm from a left hand drive country and I have no problems changing gears with my left hand, in fact I find it more important to hold the steering wheel with my right hand while changing gears. I'm sure if I was raised in a RH drive country then my feelings would be different.
Yes, in fact switching between cars in different countries provides no difficulty changing gear. The idea of handedness making 1 easier is nonsense, it simply isn't a precision task.
I much prefer driving a car aligned with local traffic rules as it helps avoid the mistakes people used to driving on the wrong side make.
Lots of people regularly do both.
Should you be driving at all?
To be frank, while I never had any issue with changing gears, but the first time I drove in the UK, I did have a hard time judging the distance to the curb (or parked cars)
I'm from the UK and learned to drive here. I also have no issue driving on the right, either in a left hand drive car or right hand drive. I know some people have to think about it so I suppose I'm fortunate. I'm right handed so I prefer right hand drive cars though. My better hand is in control of the car; changing gears isn't exactly difficult. But I can do both.
I don't think the UK would ever change due to the costs. Then again we're the only country that buys fuel in litres but uses miles per gallon.
I agree, I prefer to have my right hand on the steering wheel at all times
In fact there are still some motorway junctions around Göteborg on the E6 that were built before 1963, designed for LHT. They have a bit "too steep" curves on the exits, and vice versa…
Also, acceleration lanes for vehicles to join motorways and other major roads safely are normally longer than the deceleration lanes provided for leaving them. (I designed motorways back in the day.)
The same is true in Stockholm at the junction around "Slussen" which looks very strangely build until you realize it was a left hand drive junction that has been converted. It works but when driving over it, you just get the feeling in the stomach something is not quite right and this is the reason why.
Not quite true, the old Slussen was deliberately designed to work in either system, anticipating the switch. It's completely gone now, though. The new Slussen little more than a series of T-junctions.
It's a nightmare in a tourist bus.
Nice video, I have two additions:
1. Countries like Belgium and France (with the exception of Alsace), which already rode on the right when trains were introduced, still have all of their trains running on the left, because they were built by British Engineers.
2. In The Netherlands, and some other countries too, there used to be the situation that some towns or cities used a different side of the road to the countryside. For example, Rotterdam kept left-hand traffic until 1917, when it was forced to switch.
Which is why the high speed line between Paris and Amsterdam has a cross over shortly after crossing the border between Belgium and The Netherlands, as in The Netherlands, trains run on the right.
Most of the SNCF lines normally use left hand running, even the quite new LGV, but in the Alsace area, where a lot of it was originally in Germany, continued with right hand after the transition into France, and there are some changeover locations with “flyover” and “underpass” layouts to facilitate the transition. A lot of the double track sections of the SBB/CFF/FFS also use left hand as well.
In the Stockholm metro, the trains still drive on the left side.
@@johnkeepin75270:01 Elsass Lotharingen is Germany, when you give it back...
Hitler changed countries to left after invading.
you should also mention that the netherlands, portugal etc. also used to drive on the left hand side. their former colonies e.g. indonesia, suriname and macau still retain driving on the left
China must be about the only country with both right and left side drive counting the SARs of Hong Kong and Macau.
@@coweatsman the US too - US Virgin Islands drive on the left, probably because the BVIs and a bunch of LHT islands are next door :)
@@mecharooDidn't know that.
@@coweatsman and the UK... with Gibraltar driving on the right.
Indeed Portugal also used to drive on the left until 1928. Then the whole country changed with the exceptions of Mozambique and Macao.
To this day the Portuguese trains still run on the left side and also the Lisbon metro. The other, more recent, metro system all drive on the right side though.
Seems to me that switching over in either case would be today practically impossible. Hundreds of billions of dollars worth of highway interchanges would have to be torn down and rebuilt reversed. Sweden doing it in the 60s was probably the lost shot they really had before things like that became entrenched. I'd say that ship has sailed.
You know those ingerchanges will still work driving on the opposite side right?
@@JiminyClarkson I’m not Swedish, but I’m pretty sure they won’t, at least not without major modification. At least in the US, on-ramps have large approaches to allow cars a lot of opportunity to enter the ramp, but narrow exits because a larger exit isn’t needed. Also, turns are carefully profiled to be as comfortable as possible, but this only considers the intended direction of travel, so they would be awkward and dangerous to navigate in the other direction.
TL;DR: It isn’t as simple as navigating the interchange in the other direction. :)
Doesn't DoD spend hundreds of billions of dollars in a year?
I am in sweden 🇸🇪 and the switch was of course expensive. We had a vote on switching where the majority wanted to KEEP left hand driving. But those votes are only advisory so the government overruled it and switched anyway. But it WAS expensive and highways and signage had to be rebuilt and replaced. But compared to now we had less traffic back then. But buses had to be rebuilt with doors in the other side or replaced for instance. Expensive. This would be a more difficult task today.
The switch was an alignment the continental Europe I’d say. The UK is an island and as such more isolated even though there is a channel tunnel now but for trains. Cars go on these trains too. So there is no switching sides mid way.
Actually. There is a part of sweden that haven’t switched to right hand traffic! And still use left hand traffic every day in 2023. The Stockholm Metro system. All trains still run on the left and meet the opposite train on their right side. This is a left over of the day H as it was called. Nobody saw the need to change it. The first real metro train ran in 1950, so they just never switched.
In my mind many of the people commenting forget some important facts:
i) In the early 1960ies Sweden had very few motorways, meaning that most roads were ordinary two lane roads.
ii) Virtually all cars at the time had the steering wheel on the left - even cars built in Sweden like Volvo and Saab - and this of course also applied to imported cars.
iii) Sweden is a relatively large country - roughly twice the size of the UK - but with a much smaller population. (At that time about 7 millions).
iv) With increased standard of living, the number of cars started to increase a lot in the late 1950ies and early 1960ies.
This all combined meant that traffic accidents also increased a lot and one important reason was the fact that when trying to overtake, with the steering wheel on the left, you virtually have to go fully over to right side of the road to see if it is free to allow overtaking. And not so seldom it wasn't free and the result was a head-on collision ...
Finally some side comments:
My mother, after graduating as a medical doctor around 1950, got herself a small car in 1951 or 52 - a Renault CV4 and of course it had the steering wheel on the left. With that car she went on vacation to Rome one year and to Paris another, so she had much more experience driving on the right side. In the referendum she vote 'yes' to changing.
I got my drivers license in 1973 and I have since driven in many countries in Europe (Denmark, Norway, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, UK, France, Spain, Portugal), USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand (to list the ones I remember) and thus both in right and left hand traffic.
I have driven in the UK with rental cars and this summer for the second time in my life with my Swedish car - in other words a car with the steering wheel on the left. I therefore can say that driving a car designed and built for right hand traffic isn't always easy to use in left hand traffic. (My car, being a 2023 BMW, meant that it was just a question of changing the "Settings" of the car to change the head lights to left asymmetric and the car could also display the speed in MPH in addition to km/h. The previous time in the UK it was required to put tape on the head lamps and I had a piece of paper stating for instance 30 MPH = 48 km/h, 50 MPH = 80 km/h).
There are some oddities out there if anyone is interested.
Within New Zealand, the Manipouri power station was designed accidentally to have traffic on the right, and remains that way due to the shape of the tunnels there.
The Virgin Islands of the United States is a small territory of the United States that drives on the left due to its proximity to the British Virgin Islands.
The former Danish Virgin Islands?
Yup! Before 1917 it seems.
The Canadian province of British Columbia made the switch from driving on the left to driving on the right between 1920 and 1922. The transition went relatively smoothly, with only a few hiccups, though there were far fewer cars on the road back then. The main problem was in changing the trolley wire switches. The change happened because roads there were interconnecting with those of the United States, and there was pressure to adapt to the US standard.
And BOTH cars complied. 😁
thank u, didn't realize it was all of the province, not just Vancouver.
That's so sad, the US should have complied with Canada
@@tenzaemtade6146Why?
@@MP-tz2ynAmerica getting away with controlling everything culturally and whatnot
Excellent historical overview; however, you may have your facts wrong concerning Japan. When I lived in Japan, I always had heard/read that Japanese drive/walk on the left due to samurai, who's main sword was on the left side, and thus when on horseback or walking on a road, could easily draw their sword and face the enemy with their right hand. If you walk/ride on the right side, your sword in your right hand would be useless in fighting someone who'd be facing your left side; thus, it all came down to more efficient and quicker sword fighting ability. This would have been established well over 1,400 years ago, and because Japan modernized out of the feudal samurai system relatively late, or relatively recently in the mid to late 19th century, this would mean left-hand riding and thus driving would be deeply entrenched in their subconscious behaviors, with the fact that any Brits helped with the railways being simply coincidence.
Tokyo (and most of the country) is on the left; but in Osaka people queue on the right.
@@lukeueda-sarson6732 One of the things that makes Japan so interesting is how many ways they have at least two national standards. Same with electrical current. 60hz in some parts, 50hz in others, IIRC.
Another thing that is interesting is that the amount of accidents after the Switch got very low and it was low for many months after. Probably because people where extra careful in traffic after the switch.
And the low speed limits.
I live in Thailand, and we drive on the left, just two days ago I was driving in Taiwan, on the right. The switch isn't hard to do, it's very natural to switch side, I don't feel weird at all. I think the real problem is having steering wheel on the wrong side, so I can see why Sweden switched, it was safer to be sitting on the off-side when overtaking.
The biggest problem I had was when no one was around at an intersection, when I turned into another road, I had moments I almost went into the wrong lane, then I realized it felt wrong because I sit on another side of the car and immediately corrected it.
The layout of the steering wheel in the cars was my biggest question, thank you for bringing up. I haven't finished the video but he seems more concerned about the history, which cool, but I'm interested in how it works from a pragmatic approach.
It's hard switching on a motorcycle too - it took me some time.
Unlike a car, there's no frame of reference with the gear lever and door.
Ever driven in Myanmar, where they have right hand traffic, but also right hand driver's seats? You no longer have the side of the car, to tell you the side of the road to drive on.
I've experienced something similar. If I've played a lot of a video game that has LHD cars, I might for a moment drive on the wrong side in real life before realising.
@carultch Yes I have. No big deal. When you drive from Thailand to Myanmar or Thailand to Laos, you have to switchover at the border.
Thank you for this reminder of that day. I was a student visiting from England, hitchhiking from Norway to Switzerland. By pure chance, we crossed the border on that day, but I can’t honestly remember whether it was in from Norway or across to Denmark. What I do remember with gratitude was that there was a National speed limit of I think 50km/hour and the whole country was out practising. Was it a Sunday? As a result, no one was speeding by, and we got a lot of short lifts without any long delays waiting for a driver willing to pick us up.
did you happen to notice the road configuration at the border ?
The railways of France and Belgium all drive on the left too because of that early railway British influence. Only that part of France that is Alsace-Loraine do trains drive on the right as those railways were built as part of Germany.
Therefore the mentioning of the case of Japan doesn’t make any sense, cars and trains can drive on differently sides, as your examples shows.
It's because in Japan, the cars followed the railways@@tommay6590
Also the metro in Buenos Aires, Argentina, rides on the left side of the rails, even if the country drives on the right side of the road.
It is left hand traffic that has the longer history. The change to right traffic seems to have been an idea of Napoleon and he encouraged or enforced it. About a third of the worlds population has left hand traffic, including two of the four most populous countries (India and Indonesia, the latter following Holland )
A number of Countries drive on the left other than the UK such as Republic of Ireland, Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, the Falkland Islands, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, South Africa, Malta, Cyprus and many Countries in Africa, so the UK is not isolated in this case and the only UK territory to drive on the right is Gibraltar who I believe drove on the left in the 60's but changed due to it's close proximity to Spain.
Hong Kong is an SAR within China until 2047 when it will probably become a prefecture within Guangdong Province. So China has the 2 systems as a consequence of the "one country two systems" administration.
wtf, he did say that, but thanks for repeating
Most were British influenced or British colonies. I don’t know why it’s that surprising.
@@Deano-Dron81infact the only non british colonial country is japan
Until relatively recently MORE cars were driven on the left than on the right.
Many more countries in Europe used to have a left hand travel (LHT) rule before Napoleon came along. The Netherlands used to favour LHT, which is why their ex-colonies such as Indonesia and Maldives continue to do so, even though the Netherlands change in the 19th century. The Austro-Hungarian empire (mostly) had left LHT, and it was after it broke up that the individual countries which formed it switched to RHT. Italian was a patchwork of LHT and RHT rules until Mussolini, not content with making trains run on time, decreed all provinces must become RHT. Portugal was LHT until 1928 (which is why their ex-colonies, like Macau, tend to be LHT). Finland was LHT until 1858.
The rule that countries that we part of the British Empire are LHT isn't 100% true, as Canada, the second largest country in the world (by area) is RHT. Gibraltar is also RHT.
In the case of Sweden, the proposal to move to RHT was overwhelmingly rejected by a referendum in 1955, but the government went ahead and made the change anyway in 1967.
In the late 1960s, the UK Ministry of Transport did examine what would be involved in changing the country from LHT to RHT. The conclusion was that it would have been hugely costly and disruptive for such a built up country. Things like motorway junctions being asymmetric, with longer "on ramps" and shorter "off ramps" would be a major problem, not to forget vast numbers of traffic lights, other asymmetric road junctions, signage and so on.
I was a child in the summer of 1967 travelling on holiday with my parents to Denmark, Sweden and Norway in our car. Sweden was still driving on the left which suited us because we were used to that being from the UK. The problem was that much of the preparation work for the switch was already taking place. Many road signs had been removed ... and some new ones in the position for right hand side driving ... others had covers over them. I distinctly remember that navigating through Sweden became a nightmare! At one stage my parents even resorted to using a compass to help decide if we were travelling in the correct direction!
Danes had the same issues 😅
I seem to remember reading somewhere that after Sweden made the change the UK briefly thought of doing the same. Because the road system in the UK was much more extensive than Sweden the idea was deemed impractical as was dropped. One has to wonder if UK had made the change would the rest of the commonwealth nations have followed?
possible.... in addition, the UK were at that time in process of another significant change - the decimalization of the currency. That conversion was announced in 1966, and took effect in 1971, so I presume it was also considered it would be too much on the plate at the same time.
Not necessarily, but Nigeria, Myanmar, and parts of Canada switched to the right of their own accord.
I guess it depends on their car markets, if we were to go LHD manufacturers would be losing one of the larger RHD car markets and they might be less inclined to make RHD models or make a lot less of them - that might be enough to encourage the remaining RHD markets to switch
I doubt it. It wouldn't be worth it unless maybe you're Republic of Ireland. But I guess it would depend on the year and how close they are with the UK and/or their neighbours. British made cars were popular in British colonies. However, some of the colonies started to produce their own cars and therefore not relying as much on British manufactured cars. To add to this, there was an influx of Japanese manufactured cars around the time that Sweden switched so it wouldn't have affected the former British colonies as much if the UK switched. Plus, unlike Sweden, most cars had their steering wheel on the correct side and so did their neighbouring countries. Just like the UK, some of the former colonies are islands (Australia, Jamaica, New Zeland). I guess the UK only thought about it due to its proximity to mainland Europe and joining the EU. However, it wasn't a big issue there as most cars had the steering wheel on the correct side and it's an island. If they did change, they would probably adopt the Metric system (kill 2 birds with 1 stone).
@@derekgrayjr Apart from political inertia, there's nothing stopping the UK from adopting metric road signs now. It's been in the planning since the 1960s - the "yards" on road signs are really meters. The cost argument didn't seem to stop Wales from switching large parts of the country to 20 mph, for example.
My family visited Sweden from the U.S. in early summer of 1967. When we traveled to Norway there was a sign and roadwork directing drivers from left to right-hand driving. I also remember seeing a Swedish stamp indicating the upcoming change to right-hand traffic.
The first steam locomotives were built in the UK and imported to Belgium in 1835 then France. The machinist has his handles on the left side. He can only see the signs on the left side of the track through the left window. Trains in Belgium and France still drive on the left.
Add Switzerland, Italy and I believe Portugal to the European countries where trains go on the left.
South Korea switched from left to right overnight sometime in the 1970s. All the new signs, markings, and signals were installed ahead of time, with covers on them. At midnight, the police moved the covers from the new to the old signs until they could remove the old signs shortly afterwards. Most traffic then was buses, trucks and taxis; very little private vehicle ownership. That made the whole thing easier. Banks in Korea were prohibited from loaning money for car payments until 1990 so you had to pay cash for a car
I don't think so. South Korea always drove on the right, or at least certainly since World War 2.
Excellent vid. Splitting my time between Thailand and The US I've wondered about the left vs right thing for ages. Having never been colonized I don't know why Thailand drives on the left. Maybe same reason as Japan? The strange & sometimes frustrating thing as that a people mostly walk on the right. & often in the same shopping mall some escalators will enter on the right and others on the left. Anyway, thanks for the content.
When walking along a road with no footpath, pedestrians should always walk on the opposite side of the road to traffic so that on coming traffic can be seen. That said, it seems to be almost universal that you stand on the right on an escalator and walk on the left.
Thailand was influenced by England. Anyway, why are countries that weren't colonized "required" to drive on the right?
Been there when it happened! What an amazing day! I wondered always how they could do that. Not only cars but also the trams. Thank you for explaining 50+ years later. I was 21 at that time👍
In fact France made it law to keep right on the roads the same year as the USA in 1792, before the days of Napoleon's rule.
Britain is not the main left-hand driving country, far from it. India or Indonesia have many times the British population and they drive on the left
India drives on the left exactly because of Britain. Indonesia also drives on the left because The Netherlands also used to drive on the left until the late 19th century, and Indonesia was a Dutch colony.
@@diogorodrigues747 Yes, but they are still the largest countries that drive on the left.
As an Australian I grew up driving on the left... I think changing gears with the left hand (As a right handed person)makes sense because it leaves the stronger hand to control the steering wheel
Unless you are Mario Andretti, or driving in ways that you shouldn't, I can't see how that would be seriously advantageous. As an American, I've never thought, "gee, this would be easier if I sat on the other side of the car". Also, at least in the US, you would be hard pressed to find 10 manual transmission in a car park of 1,000 vehicles.
My dad was in his early 20s when the decision was made to change, and his mid 20s when the change actually happened. He always told me he felt well informed about the change, and didn't really have any huge problems with it - except once. He'd moved away from his home town, got a good job in the big city, and a year or so after the switchover, he was going to visit his parents back where he grew up, and had to stop for gas at the station in town. The gas station that he always used to use back when he was living with his parents, but hadn't been to since before the switchover. It was getting late, and he wasn't thinking, and when he pulled out from the station, he did so in the same way he always had - and then caught himself quite quickly. No accidents happened that day, but only by sheer luck. And he says that's the only trouble he ever had with the change.
He also was very thankful that Sweden had made the change when we did. When I asked my parents about it, both of them were firmly of the opinion that it was safer from an international perspective, and that they were happy the change was made when it was - because even if it was costly, it would've cost exponentially more to do the same even just ten or twenty years later. Even if the Brits were to get onboard with the idea that having an international driving standard makes driving everywhere safer (which is highly unlikely, because they've chosen to die on that hill), at this point, switching their system would be neigh impossible.
Anyway, not sure if this link will show up, but I found a cool map that shows which countries have left/right-hand drive, and which of those have changed their system at some point: www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/3qeoah/map_showing_the_side_of_the_road_that_people/
Thanks for a very informative video.
I am from Sweden and I was 12 years old by the time of changing to righthand traffic.
The 3rd of September was a Sunday and on Monday morning I was a very proud school police helping all pedestrians at a zebra crossing in the suburb where we lived.
It was really an amazing and well organised project since they seemed to have been thinking of everything.
Forgot to mention that I now live in Thailand and here we also drive at the left side of the road. 😅
Just a few years ago they finally rebuilt a few freeway exits north of Stockholm which were built when we had left hand traffic. Ever since they changed to right hand traffic they were prone to more accidents since they weren't optimally built for right hand traffic, you had to drive over several lanes of traffic in a very short distance for example.
curious, what are the exits‘ names?
@@lheng2474 Viggbyholm and Roslags Näsby
Ireland was going to do the switch too, but their plan was to do it gradually, Lorries the first week then cars the next, followed by motorcycles the week after that.
Incredibly stupid idea, considering Ireland is an island.
If they switched lorries over before other vehicles, that would mean lorries would be driving into on-coming traffic
@@callumbrankin883 it's a joke, an old one and I think someone else made it here around the same time I did, may be not as well 😀
You can also say that it's more natural for right-handed people to sit on the right, to keep their dominant hand on the steering wheel at all times, to occasionally use their left hand to shift gears or very rarely to use the automatic gear shift and when stopped.
As a right-handed Australian who has driven many manual transmission vehicles... I can't imagine changing gears with my right hand. My dominant hand stays on the wheel nearly all the time.
@@techie_nerd_au Totally get it. Lived in Europe for a bit and driving autos was just fine but could never master right handed manual. Felt really unsafe. And I love driving manuals.
I'm left handed, so a LHD car is marginally easier for me. I've driven all sorts over the years though, RHD, LHD, auto, manual, I don't really care much, I'll drive anything with an engine..! I just love driving, sadly, successive governments have reduced the pleasure I get out it bit by little bit.
Actually I would say the opposite. When riding a bike one handed, it's easier to use only the left hand to steer, than the right hand. Also as said on the video, most sword carrying men hold the reins on the left hand. Also, you go where you look, but it's much more by the dominant hand. Personally I have noticed that if I have both or only the right hand on the steering wheel, I will start to steer slightly to the side I look. Happens less if only using the left hand. Also the gear knob should be on the right.
@@ummagummamanI live in a RHD country, but my last car for three years was LHD (Japan import).
Cant say there was much difference after i got used to changing gears with my left hand.
Though obviously easier too shift with my right hand as thats what im used too, and im also right handed.
Never felt that it was easier to steer with the left or right hand when changing gears either, felt the same. But im also used to steering with my left so.
I think you can get used to anything if you use it enough.
There even was a somewhat jazzy song about the switch, going something like, "han håller till höger, Svensson, () annars bara slutar det, med en smäll"😮. Aired on radio all the time. And there were stickers to be placed on the inside of the windshield, in plain view, to remind drivers to stay on the right.
I still recall, as a Norwegian 16 year old kid, getting up early in the morning that Sunday, to watch the switchover live on Swedish television. Anyway, one thing I missed in the video was a few words about the ocurrence of road accidents after the switch, caused by people still driving on the left hand side. I seem to remember that there were surprisingly few. And for those who might not understand Swedish, the lyrics I quoted means "he drives on the right (hand side) (Mr.) Svensson, or else it just ends with a bang". Seems like the vast majority heeded those words. "Svensson", or "Medel-Svensson" is a term meaning the average Swede.
ruclips.net/video/6ODZtwkBYPs/видео.html
"håll dig till höger, Svensson, () annars bara slutar det, med en smäll"
If you are driving a hard to turn vehicle that does not have power steering, it is natural to steer with your strongest arm (which is usually your dominant hand) as it takes much more strength to steer than it does to change to gears.
I learnt to drive on tractors on a farm. The driver seat was in the center (not on left or right) and the gear stick was between your legs. Tractors are heavy and particularly hard to turn in ploughed ground where the front wheels sink into the soil. Whether you were right or left handed, you would steer with your dominant hand and use the other hand to change gears.
Canada, a former British dominion, was strongly influenced by its proximity to the USA. The decision to enforce right- or left-hand traffic, was provincial. Some provinces, British Columbia for example, originally had left hand traffic before ultimately switching over.
Driving on the LHS of the road is safer and better than driving on the RHS because most people are right handed. Steering a vehicle is the most critical hand operated task. Most gear levers (manual and auto'), heater, radio, etc. tend to be in the centre of the vehicle. Thus driving on the LHS of the road, i.e. RH drive vehicle allows the LH to operated gear changes, radios, heaters, etc. while keeping the RH (generally most dominant) on the steering wheel.
People also forget that we are also mostly right-eyed. That means the right eye is dominant and the left eye follows it. Driving on the LHS means our right eye is centred and has a better view of oncoming traffic and anyone overtaking. If we sat on the left and drove on the right, our dominant eye would have a better view of the hard shoulder but resulting in a great big blind spot for oncoming traffic and overtaking vehicles.
Yep and right handed = right eye dominant so better awareness of oncoming traffic. Accident statistics of LHD vs RHD countries bears this out.
@@egbront1506 That's fascinating! I did not know that. Thank you!!👍
@@Radaos Thank you! Gee how did I not know this?! Appreciate the additional information!!
That is a very interesting bit of history. What I wonder is how difficult was the change for the people. How many accidents occurred in the days that followed the change. Growing up with the right side drive roads, when I visit a country with left side drive roads I do get a little confused. So I like to use taxis instead of driving myself in those conditions, but having a whole population that is confused all at once has the potential of causing chaos on the streets.
I am recalling from reading about this many years ago but, according to statistics accidents and traffic incidents were actually *lower* than average in the first few weeks or months while people were relearning how to drive safely. After that accidents and incidents returned to a "normal" level. This astonished many analysts who had predicted more accidents.
I also remeber being taught that there were verybfew, if any, accidents due to this.
I was a pre-driving teenager in Okinawa in (I think 1978) when the island switched from Right side (due to US Military post-war administration) to Left side (transferral of admin from US to Japan). Down to the smallest detail was thought of (headlights being adjusted to not blind oncoming traffic). ONE was missed… The Buses, Yep they had not changed over the bus doors. So when the switch was made, for several months the buses let people off INTO traffic. (If I remember right, they initially dealt with this by making special bus pull offs completely out of traffic to load/unload passengers until they could get all the buses converted/replaced.) I think, but am not sure, the American bases were still Right side so it was real interesting on base because you had to remember which way was correct. My parents had big signs on the dash board. And I remember several times two cars would be on the same side of the road as each then figured out who was correct. Luckily on base was very slow speed limits so there was usually time to avoid a major wreck. But the whole switch over was very memorable.
I am wondering what will happen in Hong Kong in 2047 when the 50 year "one country two systems" SAR expires. Will HK change over from left to right? And Macau in 2049 when its 50 year agreement expires.
@coweatsman Hopefully nothing. Switching over is expensive and unnecessary.
in 1969, a study showed that left driving countries had lower accident rates. It was suggested that this is because the right eye and the right hand are dominant in most people. There are more modern surveys that still echo that,
With Britain & Ireland being islands, there were no countries with land borders
I recently visited Angola(right-hand side) and then travelled to Namibia and South Africa (left-hand drive). The people who live along the borders of Angola & Namibia do not seem to have any problems swapping over from left or right or right to left.
I've always driven a RH drive vehicle, so controlling the steering wheel with my right hand and changing gears with the left feels natural, despite what Matthias says.
As you point out, GB/Ireland are islands, so changing sides isn't an issue, until you get a ferry or the tunnel. I'd be interested to learn which side they drive on in northern Cyprus, as I assume Turkey drives on the right. I've seen a video on the new bridge connecting Hong Kong with Macau - they have a flyover switching traffic from left to right
@@roginkWhat’s a flyover?
@@linusfotograf an elevated road.
@@linusfotograf It's what we call the elevated section over a roundabout in UK.
@rogink Northern Cyprus still drives on the Left, but as I've witnessed while driving in North Cyprus The driving tends to be rather chaotic dangerous.
Imagine how much cheaper and easier it would have been to change to right hand traffic in 1920 instead of 1967.
I imagine such a massive change is actually quite safe to do, if a bit chaotic, as long as it's well informed to the public, because everyone will be scared of making a mistake or slip up. Sorta the same thing with roundabouts vs traffic lights - there's more to consider, and a lower speed required, so people are more observant to incursions. Perhaps also more understanding when others do make a mistake.
I had a somewhat related experience recently. One of our standard roads was converted to a priority road. I felt like this kind of rule change would be dangerous for people who have been driving the road for decades, because they might be on "auto-pilot". In reality, nothing happened and everything was fine. At worst, people gave way when they didn't need to.
Sweden has neighbours that drive on the wrong side of the road. As for the UK, Australia etc, why would we switch?
There probably weren't many reasons to switch before the Chunnel was built, it was an "isolated" island after all... but then the Chunnel opened and road traffic between UK and Europe increased exponentially, so the reasons to change are the same as those for Sweden, except that... then Brexit happened, so there probably aren't many reasons to switch again, and the Chunnel is probably no longer needed too! 🤣
Economy of scale.
On January 1, 1922, drivers of automobiles, street cars, and wagons had to adjust to driving on the right side of the road when the rule of the road changed at 6 a.m. that Sunday morning. Up until that point, drivers in British Columbia, drove British-style. Apparently, there were no accidents reported that were caused by the switch.
I'd be really interested in a video that got more in depth into the (say) five years before AND AFTER the change, and whether more recently the populace agreed that the change was the right thing to do DESPITE the massive public opposition at the time (and perhaps what that might tell us about direct vs representative democracy)
Ooh - the Union flag flying at 4:45 is upside down.
A very informative and interesting video. I would, however, have to disagree with you about ease of manual gear change in a LHD car. I have driven manual cars in their normal habitats (LHD on the right side of the road and RHD on the left) for many years, and there is absolutely no difference. Providing you're driving the correct car for the side of the road you're driving on, I have always found that my brain automatically switches everything. Driving my own UK RHD car in Europe, though, is a different matter. It's fine on major highways and large roads, but driving around small side streets, especially when they're snow covered, can make decisions about which way traffic is coming from difficult at junctions. Fortunately, this for me is a fairly rare occurrence and I normally rent a car in the country I'm visiting, so there's no problem.
Oddly enough, Okinawa changed to left-hand driving in July of 1978. Perhaps they took lessons from Sweden. The whole thing took place rather smoothly. It was done to allow vacationing Japanese to use cars in Okinawa without any discomfort. In addition the favorite rental cars were of Japanese make and they were equipped with Right-hand steering wheels. Although I am sure prior to 1978, some manufactures had the left-hand wheel option. Don’t forget that the USA occupied Okinawa prior to May of 1972, although still occupies a good deal of the little island to this day owning to the many military bases there.
Japan actually did a traffic switchover twice on Okinawa island. After World War II ended, the island was under American occupation, and switched over to right-hand traffic. After the island returned to Japanese control, they switched it back to LHD.
The left and right visions activate or express negative or positive emotions unconsciously. Oncoming cars should be seen on one's right hand side. That is better for harmony and positive unconscious approach to life and toothers.
At that time, I drove to Denmark on the left side of the road (RH drive car) in August and back again a week later in September on the SAME side of the road, i.e. the right. It WAS a bit eerie at first ! But everything went hunky-dory.
I am wondering what happened to all the buses with doors on the left 🚌. This must be a huge amount of vehicles in good shape. And how about the law for the steerring wheel being on the right side.
It had been 'in the air' for some time, so already around 1961, bus operators started to hold-back on buying new vehicles. Newer vehicles, typically those acquired from around 1957 and onward, were rebuilt, some before the conversion, some immediately afterwards. Same applied for trams in those few cities which retained tramway systems. Large amounts of new buses flowed-in from 1965/6 to replace those not rebuilt. Buses not rebuilt were in some instances sold to far-east countries. The months just before the conversion saw quite a few life-expired buses still on the road.
@@PerCPH2200 Some of the old buses were sold to Kenya and Pakistan.
Great video. My granddad was in Stockholm for the changeover and he witnessed the trams reversing on a temporary triangle in the park so that they had the doors on the right side...
Interesting that their trams have doors only on one side. Most (if not all?) trams I've been on have doors on both side. Wonder if your the reversal was not door-related?
did they scrap all the city buses ?
@@james.anderson-pole Maybe super modern trams but old trams only have them on one side
Sweden has land borders and was never occupied by Napoleon. Austria & Czechoslovakia used to drive on the left until Nazi occupation. China drove on the left until 1946. Japan, South East Asia, the sub-continent. Malta, Cyprus and Ireland in Europe still drive on the left, as do Southern & East Africa, Australasia and the Anglo speaking Caribean islands. Many parts of of West Africa have switched from left to right , as has the military dictatorship of Burma.
Secondhand cars from Japan with the steering wheel on the right are ridiculously popular in eastern Russia. You see the first of those at Lake Baikal, and in Vladivostok, it feels like they are 80% of all cars.
Mordor....
5:46 In addition, starting in the mid-18th century large wagons, known as Conestoga Wagons hit the road. These wagons were so large, the driver didn't sit atop wagon, he actually walked alongside (which was fine, they were so heavy the horses didn't pull them faster than a walking pace) or rode on a small board on the side. And they had a long handle for the brakes. Because it was all manual and these large wagons required massive brakes, it took a lot of strength to pull the brake lever, especially in a panic stop situation. So, since most people are right-handed, these brake levels were on the left of the wagon. Furthermore, these wagons were so large, the driver needed to pass other traffic on his side of the wagon so he could tell he wasn't going to hit, which meant they passed on the right. Eventually states began codifying stay right to pass in order to accommodate these large wagons.
The craziest thing was that most drivers had the steering wheel on the left side before the change. When overtaking, this led to the strange situation that you had to pull out completely to see whether the road was even clear. There once was even a film about it on RUclips called “Höger- eller vänstertrafik” (right or left-hand traffic) in which you could clearly see this.
However, the change had other effects. Because his mare, who had been trotting on the left for decades, could no longer be expected to adjust, a beer coachman asked for a subsidy to buy a right-hand side horse from Finland. But nothing: the horse has to obey the coachman, was the negative decision.
I was in Denmark when Sweden changed sides, I remember it well, went over to Malmo to watch. I also remember driving from Oslo (Norway) to Gothenburg in late 1966 and having to change from right to left of the road at the border, I don't remember where we crossed but I think it was near or on quite a high bridge? (Anyone?) JT
There was a story about Ireland planning to change over, but to make it easier they were going to do cars on Monday, buses on Tuesday, trucks on Wednesday.
This is a common April Fool's joke in Ireland.
And the ambulances every other day.
Left hand traffic is logical for majority righthanded population you want to pass weapon hand facing weapon hand even on foot. Blame Napoleon for changing that. In Austria before WW2 even different local states had different traffic rules LH or RH. You can still find many pre WW2 cars in Europe that are RHD even though they weren't made in UK or ever registered in UK.
Changing sides in Hungary was probably more interesting, as it happened in two stages. On July 6th, 1941, the countryside changed to right hand driving, with the capital, Budapest, following on 9th of November same year. The trigger for this switch is also interesting: because of German troops headed towards Yugoslavia. The large German columns could have caused so much trouble and jams, as the German drivers were accustomed to driving on the right, that the Hungarian government decided to make the move (left hand driving, BTW was already impeding seriously the intenational traffic through Hungary anyway).
There are two local two-tracked railroad lines (which are mostly the same) in Budapest still being left-handed: the H8 and H9 HÉV-lines. For this reason these two are the most dangerous of all two-tracked railroad lines in the city.
Éljen Trianon! 😄
I think you’ll probably find that Japan probably developed driving on the left independently for exactly the same reason as the Romans as mentioned in the video. The bit about the railways is probably true as in France (except Alsace), Italy, Luxembourg & (of course) Sweden. Incidentally, on 7 Sept 2009 Samoa changed from driving on the right to driving on the left. That was mainly due to most of their cars were imported 2nd hand from Japan.
Sounds like they just took the opportunity to finally do the switch.
While listening to this I was thinking the the US couldn't even change to the metric system when they tried it back in the 50's. We couldn't possibly make a change of equal magnitude as flipping the traffic protocol. Just couldn't.
One of the topics that's always fascinated me. Some other interesting left-driving places are Suriname and Guyana in South America as well as the US Virgin Islands. The USVI story is that they drive on the left because "donkeys are stubborn". People there also apparently like being able to know where the edge of the car is on some of their narrow mountain roads.
I am probably biased growing up driving on the left. But I much prefer RHD, as my dominant right hand is still in control when I change gears. Shifters are designed to easily go into the right gear and needs little dexterity, just a gentle guide/push. Sequential and electronic boxes are easier. So I prefer my right hand on the wheel. Same goes for grabbing a drink or snack, keeping my better hand controlling the car. Having said that, if I were Swedish I most likely would have voted to change. There's a lot of benefit being the same as every one of your neighbours.
In large cities, there was a period of several days when all private cars and other non-essential traffic were banned.
The UK could have learned from that information campaign when they made a change to the highway code in GB when they changed the rules around pedestrians crossing at junctions, etc. There was practically no publication of the change, certainly nothing to guarantee everyone, or even a minor majority would have heard about it, and no thought for how many junctions simply are not suitable for vehicles to suddenly need to give way to them. The amount of confusion and number of incidents that have resulted is unsurprising high.
It wasn't as big a change as switching which side of the road the whole country drives on, but it was also being done 55 years later with far more complex road networks and traffic density, and driver skull density, than was being dealt with in the 60's.
I think all that was done was a youtube advert, or maybe just a video you had to stumble upon somehow, maybe a tv advert, but probably not on every channel, and maybe an occasional newspaper advert, but I don't know for sure as I'm in Northern Ireland where it doesn't apply (yep, they decided not to cover the whole nation with the change, just to confuse even more people, while Sweden acted to reduce confusion and incompatibility with other countries, the UK is reducing its compatibility with itself). I might even be overselling their efforts.
I learned of it through a youtube channel I follow, a driving instructor in Liverpool who does learning point videos amongst other driving related stuff, and he covered it and the lack of publication and even lack of clarity in the change of text being made, so they couldn't even get that basic bit right. It would have been like Sweden saying, 'from 3/9/67 everyone should driving on the right, but sometimes not, go do that now'. Now there's a mess of people stopping to let pedestrians cross, pedestrians thinking they're crazy and waving them on while others take the opportunity to cross while another driver doesn't expect that first to stop and either drives into the back of it or overtakes with pedestrians in the road, etc, and there's probably some pedestrians that are just stepping into the road because the wording suggests they have 'priority', which they will think can be demanded, so they'll step into the path of drivers who still think they have 'right of way', so will think they can demand the same space back at them, and a pedestrian and car claiming the same space thinking both are in the right, not going to end well.
To be honest with you both ways of driving are fine, but in today’s international world, I’d much prefer it if the whole world drives on the same side both for consistency and standardisation of driving. But alas that may never happen due to cost and people used on their ways of driving
Well as long as they change to the left, the right hand side was chosen by a short left handed dictator!?!
I had recommended switch over to keep to left in Samoa, in 2006! I was an international Specialist on road safety, with SMEC, on a World Bank financed project, for the Client Government of Samoa!
I want to thank you for putting in the time and research on this video - I've known for a long time that this happened in Sweden, but I've always been curious about the details, and now I'm better informed. That photograph of traffic moving to the other side of the road that you used several times puzzled me a bit - because you said everyone switched at 5 a.m. In September that would be around sunrise... when was the photo taken? I also can't help wondering how many people ended up on the wrong side of the road afterwards, particularly after emerging from a one-way street (which is a big danger moment if you've switched sides).
I believe the photo of the cars switching sides were taxis and not private cars.
Essentially people drive on the right because Napoleon was left handed.
im swedish, and everything u taught in this video was new and educational to me. gripped from the start to finish. thank you!
6:35 That is not correct. The most important function in driving the car is keeping it steered properly. This is a dominant hand function. When you look at right handed people, if they choose to drive with just one hand on the wheel they predominantly use the right hand. (Ignore people opening their windows and using the window sill as an arm rest even though this is mostly left hand drive cars meaning right hand remains.)
Changing gears is an auxiliary function best left for the left hand. Arguments about "it's a complex function so you need your dominant hand" are wrong. It's a very simple task far easier than typing. Guitar playing uses left hand in complex fingering. If people want to say that the right hand of a guitar is involved in complex plucking or strumming, then explain why the cellists and violinists hold the bow in their right and still do the complex fungeringvwith their left. Tennis players, baseball players, all use their dominant hands and save the other hand for auxiliary tasks.
I can't see this happening in any left-driving countries of any size. Especially brexit Britain! I have no problem adjusting to driving Napoleon's way when driving in countries who follow the little corporal so why change? A lot of expense for little gain.
I'm very glad we did it. Being surrounded by countries where they drive on the opposite side of the road wouldn't bee any good. I've got an old traffic sign with the letter H that was used to remind people of the change.
Now, you have to go to Samoa where they did the opposite. They switched from right hand to left hand traffic. I guess the main reason so that they could get used cars from nearby Japan, Australia & New Zealand.
As for railways, Sweden is not the only European country driving on the left: The UK invented or popularized railways, so several countries who started developing railways early, such as France, Germany, Italy also had trains driving on the left, although Germany reverted that policy later. Portugal, and of course Ireland, also drive on the left. Trains however don't have drivers who choose on which side they drive, like cars, it's fully automated now, so it does not matter as much.
Belgium also runs their trains on the left.
@@volvo480 Switzerland too, and that's probably about it for Europe, with some countries having even both types. In separate routes, hopefully. Not sure if any train manage to split the left wheels of their boogies on one railway, the right wheels on the other, as Fernand Raynaud's sister who claimed that if everybody was driving in the center of the road like her, there would be much less accidents.
@@Chimel31fun fact: in France, where trains are running on the left track, there are two regions where they drive on the right: Alsace (Elsass) and Lorraine (Lotharingen), because they were German when the railroad was built.
It would be one thing changing a small population country over to driving on a different side but for example the UK with 35 million vehicles would be impossible to do safely.
another very well made video, Matthias! you have a very underrated channel, keep up the good work man :)
7:49 i wonder, that VW (which is from Örebro län/county the T in sign), that driver can expect a parking ticket....
Fun Fact: Railroads are still left hand trafic in Sweden! They never switched.
The Öresundståg, the train that goes between Sweden and Denmark switches sides in the middle of the Öresund bridge. As well as running on 2 different supply voltages...
Edit: oh you mentioned it at the end of the video... Oh and it took me like 7 years living in the Malmö region to notice something was off with the trains there... now I know... indeed they are on the right... somewhere between Malmö and Lund they change weird...
No the trains don’t change on the bridge.
Danish electrical system and signals are in operation from about the same place as the road tolls. Signalling and electrics are not switched at the same place though.
For trains going on the old continental track (Kontinentalbanan) there’s a level separated crossover just by Malmö Syd.
However, most trains nowadays run through the city tunnel that is running entirely on the right hand side until just after Malmö C, where the trains switch to left hand side as they are leaving the tunnel.
No. It's more natural to hold the STEERING WHEEL with the right hand and shift gears with the left hand!!
I first drove on the right in my 70s (78 now, got my licence when 17); in France. Only problem I found was the trafficators, in Australia they are on the right of the steering wheel (mostly). Wound up with a very clean windscreen. Did go to the wrong side of the road occasionally (oops). Roundabouts can also confuse. Worst thing is driving in the UK (never have driven in the US) is when you have a problem working out your speed. Changing miles to kilometres was easy for us in the early 1970s; and there are 1,000 metres in a kilometre; how many stupid yards are there in a mile? Must be in my memory somewhere (1,760) but makes no sense when reading road signs.
Great presentation…I grew up and lived in all three former UK colonies SA, NZ and OZ. Now I am in Croatia. My brain literally “switches” and I have never experienced any difficulty driving left or right hand side, however when I drove my UK car in Europe, other than on the Autobahn, you always need to rely on your front passenger when overtaking on dual carriageway which is frightening.
I fit extra mirrors to cover all the bases, including an overtaking mirror which faces forward from the passenger side to check for oncoming traffic!
on autobahn its not tooo bad but on a single lane road is more terrifying lol
Why is it more natural to use the shift gear with your right hand? I’ve use my left hand. All my life and I’m right-handed and I don’t have any problems using my left hand.
Aussie here, I would contend that changing gears with your left hand is just as easy and is in fact safer as your dominant hand remains on the steering wheel.
That said, I’ve driven in the USA and had no difficulty adjusting at all.
PS, it would need impossible for Australia to change sides as all of our cars are right hand drive (drive in the left). The infrastructure would be incredibly expensive and time consuming to change over too.
Why has North America stuck with 110 volts mains electricity? inferior but established.
I love in the UK; I would contend that changing gear with my left hand is perfectly natural, as ive been doing it ever since i learnt to drive 30 years ago. Furthermore, I am keeping my dominant hand on the steering wheel whilst changing gear.
I have driven in Europe, but only in British cars, so I've never driven a left hand drive. One of the hardest things when I'm abroad is crossing the road, because traffic is coming from the wrong direction.
Why would you do that? It's the right handed traffic that should switch to the left. Everyone knows British ways are best - stop fighting it.
Now go Britain!! You can do it! And when you're doing the change get rid of the miles and other nonsense too! :D
Miles also the Unit of measurement in the 🇺🇸, And they drive on the right,
In the 🇬🇧 Metric is used at Petrol stations, And in weigh of foods in Supermarkets, I believe We like to have our cake and eat by having both measurement types.
And the cake we are eating is Spotted Dick😮
nah? pretty sure brexit means brexit and you should mind your own business and worry about your failing eu
why would anyone want to? Driving on the left is clearly superior. Having your dominant hand on the steering wheel and using your weaker hand to change gear seems to be the safer option.
I live in the UK and am right-handed, and believe that steering with my dominant hand and changing gears with my less dominant makes sense. Granted, I've driven manuals on the other side too, and didn't think much of it. That said, I would 100% be in favour of the UK changing sides - if they ever decided to do that :)
Don't see the UK changing. All the infrastructure from freeways to traffic signals to bus entrances to roundabouts which are not always symmetrical. And the cars all have their steering wheels on the right side with a turnover of a driving fleet being about 20 years.
Very interesting! I never knew that Sweden used to drive on the left side. I think that in Hong Kong they’ll have to switch to right hand traffic like in the rest of China.