Samoa Switches Sides Of The Road For Drivers

Where: Samoa

September 9, 2009 at 9:15 AM | by kjb | 0 Comments

As of Monday morning local time, the country of Samoa made quite the change to the way the country moves around. Instead of driving on the right side of the road, they decided to switch things up and drive on the left side. Not since the 1970s has a country shook things up like this, and we�re just glad we didn�t have a visit planned there this week.

To help things go as smoothly as possible, the country is taking a couple days off, as government officials felt that a two-day holiday would ease people into the traffic train wreck. There�s also a three-day ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages, because you know knocking a few back would not help things out at all. So far so good it seems, but that might only be because everyone is still on vacation.

The country is aligning their road system to match the driving patterns of nearby Australia and New Zealand. They�re hoping they can import some cheaper used cars from their neighbors rather than the pricey ones from the US and Europe.

For now, drivers can use cars with steering wheels on either side, but buses are a different issue. All the old buses with steering wheels on the left will be loading and unloading passengers into the middle of the road for the time being. Even if we have to risk playing Frogger, we�d probably take our chances with their public transportation system. In situations like this, it�s probably better to let someone else handle the driving for a few days.

Related Stories:
· Samoa Passes Right-to-Left Driving Test [AP, via Google]
· 'Stay Left!' And Other Tips For Driving in Ireland [Jaunted]
· Cars coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Moody75]

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