Ireland, Driving On Right Hand Side Of Road

old_aussie

Ireland being part of the EU, will Ireland change over to driving on the right hand side of the road?

mink_man

it's something I think about every day.

token56

Alot of people here can bearly drive on the left hand side, I wouldn't like to think about what would happen if we switched sides.

Aswerty

I'd assume it's all entirely dependent on what the UK does.

Iwasfrozen

Jesus no, why should we?

changes

we've been in the EU since 73 and haven't changed yet. UK is also part of he EU and they won't change either.

I'd like to be driving on the right, could import cheaper cars from spain etc then.

That's a stupid idea. There'd be chaos and money spent on altering our already bad roads.

old_aussie

The idea of driving on the RH side of road was once touted in Australia.

The main argument was that cars would be cheaper and that Oz would be aligned with the "rest of the world"

phasers

Oh God, imagine how many people would die if that was brought in.

I actually saw some stupid bitch going round a roundabout backwards in Tallaght once. Scariest thing was she was headed towards the m50 :eek:

OutlawPete

No way, there are far too many rural areas in Ireland, if that were to happen, people would then have to drive along dark spooky country roads as they sat right beside the ditch.

orourkeda

Just a minor consideration here.

Aren't our cars configured to be driven on the left hand side of the road (i.e right hand drive).

Is it an attractive proposition to expect the entire population to replace their cars with left hand drive vehicles.

I'm sure every car dealer is probably jerking off to the prospect.

Agricola

Terrible idea. Mass pileups every day of the week.

old_aussie

Sweden changed over on Sunday, 3 September 1967

Many other countries changed over in the twentieth century.

I think it would take at least one generation, maybe two generations to become the norm.

Older people would find it harder to adapt as their natural reaction would be to go left in an emergency

Max Power1

I heard this was being touted by the RSA a while ago. The mentioned switchover for cars was 1/1/12, and trucks & HGVs 6 months later if it proved successful for the car users.

orourkeda

Agricola wrote: »

Terrible idea. Mass pileups every day of the week.

Thankfully we only have two cars crashing into each other regularly

The Agogo

Spanish people are coming here to buy cheaper cars.

Japan make cheap cars....they drive on the left.

I'd assume we'd have to follow the UK to support the north changeover.

It'd be very confusing as we'd have to change ALL the road signs and markings (not to mention our cars to LHD).

Can't see it happening to be honest.

phasers

Max Power1 wrote: »

I heard this was being touted by the RSA a while ago. The mentioned switchover for cars was 1/1/12, and trucks & HGVs 6 months later if it proved successful for the car users.

Please be joking :eek:

Wibbs

Left hand drive cars IMHO are less efficient. Most people are right handed. I'd prefer to have them with their "good" hand on the wheel while the change gear. The latter doesnt require as much dexterity. *pigeons insert cat*

Anyway the driving on the right hand side is a French invention. They felt the need to be different. Roman chariots and carts were "right hand drive" and that went that way up until the 19th century and the french.

Mr. Incognito

I heard this was being touted by the RSA a while ago. The mentioned switchover for cars was 1/1/12, and trucks & HGVs 6 months later if it proved successful for the car users.

That made me LOL- It wouldn't surprise me

Poly

We could phase it in gradually, start first with trucks and buses

Edit :sorry bit late with this one

The Agogo

Max Power1 wrote: »

I heard this was being touted by the RSA a while ago. The mentioned switchover for cars was 1/1/12, and trucks & HGVs 6 months later if it proved successful for the car users.

So in this gap period, trucks will be driving on the left and cars on the right?

hmmm...

The Agogo

Poly wrote: »

We could phase it in gradually, start first with trucks and buses

Edit :sorry bit late with this one

So passengers will be alighting from the bus ONTO THE ROAD!:eek:

Jesus Wept

[another driver is trying to alert them that they're driving on the wrong side of the highway]
Neal: He says we're going the wrong way...
Del: Oh, he's drunk. How would he know where we're going?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEZv0FUPtcc

coffee_cake

Wibbs wrote: »

Left hand drive cars IMHO are less efficient. Most people are right handed. I'd prefer to have them with their "good" hand on the wheel while the change gear. The latter doesnt require as much dexterity. *pigeons insert cat*

Anyway the driving on the right hand side is a French invention. They felt the need to be different. Roman chariots and carts were "right hand drive" and that went that way up until the 19th century and the french.

Lefties are people too! :mad:

phasers

Wibbs wrote: »

Left hand drive cars IMHO are less efficient. Most people are right handed. I'd prefer to have them with their "good" hand on the wheel while the change gear. The latter doesnt require as much dexterity. *pigeons insert cat*

I totally agree with this.

Being a leftie with a RHD car it took ages before my car stopped veering slightly whenever I changed gear. I never realised how weak my right hand was until then.

Max Power1

phasers wrote: »

Please be joking :eek:

Surely it would cause chaos if they tried to change every type at the same time...






(lol, people really do believe anything written on "teh internetz" )

Max Power1

The Agogo wrote: »

So passengers will be alighting from the bus ONTO THE ROAD!:eek:

Yeah, thats the main problem. Not the head on crashes between cars and HGVs :p

Berty

Bus stops on the wrong side of the road.
Doors of the bus on the wrong side of the bus.(Dublin airport Airside bus's are the other way around)
Cars are RHD.
Headlights on RHD cars face the LHD of the road so would blind cars if they were switched over.

Have you heard of Högertrafikomläggningen which is also called Dagen H.

This is where Sweden switched over from the left to right. For them it was not too hard because their cars were already LHD.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagen_H

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7APmG5qN5A

Definitely worth the listen, if you haven't heard it before.

The Agogo

Berty wrote: »

Bus stops on the wrong side of the road.
Doors of the bus on the wrong side of the bus.(Dublin airport Airside bus's are the other way around)
Cars are RHD.
Headlights on RHD cars face the LHD of the road so would blind cars if they were switched over.

Have you heard of Högertrafikomläggningen which is also called Dagen H.

This is where Sweden switched over from the left to right. For them it was not too hard because their cars were already LHD.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagen_H

Not to mention that there is tenfold more traffic on our roads 43 years later.

Some African and South Asian countries have done it recently, but they didn't have much traffic. Doing it here would cause chaos.

ballsymchugh

samoa changed last september.

September 8, 2009, 9:44 am
In Samoa, Drivers Switch to Left Side of the Road
By RICHARD S. CHANG

If you thought it was tough going back to work this morning, imagine having the added mental burden of suddenly learning to drive on the opposite side of the road.

That’s what will happen Wednesday when the citizens of Samoa return to work after a two-day holiday, imposed for the sole purpose of helping the country switch from driving on the right side of the road to driving on the left.

The switch officially began Monday at 6 a.m. This is from The Associated Press:

As the 6 a.m. deadline approached, Police Minister Toleafoa Faafisi went on national radio to tell drivers everywhere to stop their vehicles. Minutes later, Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi broadcast the formal instructions for drivers to switch sides.

When drivers resumed their journeys, horns honked, sirens wailed and church bells rang. While there was some hesitation, traffic soon flowed again with guidance from police as hundreds of onlookers who lined streets in the capital, Apia, clapped and cheered.

Samoa is the first country in 40 years to switch driving sides. One reason is that Australia and New Zealand drive on the left, and it is cheaper to import cars from those countries than from the United States and Europe.

Cars in Australia and New Zealand have their steering wheels on the right side of the car, as in Britain. For now, the Samoan government will allow cars with steering wheels on either side. The bigger issue concerns the country’s buses, whose doors are mounted on the right side, which means passengers have to board from the middle of the street.


Interestingly enough, almost 42 years ago to the day, Sweden did the same thing, except it went from the left to the right — and spent around $120 million (not adjusted) on signs and advertising to market the switch.

There was even an official name. It was called Dagen H, or H Day (the H stood for hogen, which means “right” in Swedish). From Time magazine:

Once Parliament decided to switch, Swedish bureaucracy mobilized with terrifying efficiency. Psychologists made studies of drivers and pedestrians; traffic engineers surveyed Sweden’s 70,000 miles of roadway from Malmo to remotest Lapland. Thousands of new signs and traffic lights were ordered and every home, hospital and prison received manuals detailing the 107 basic European road symbols that would replace the helter-skelter Swedish markers. To make sure foreign workers and visitors got the message, the Commission on Right-Hand Traffic printed pamphlets in nine languages from Portuguese to Serbo-Croatian.

In the final, frenetic days before H-day, the new system was explained in the press, demonstrated on film, discussed on radio and TV, and extolled by singing commercials. Stockholm’s N.K. department store reported a run on men’s shorts emblazoned with a big H, and milk containers sprouted slogans like, “Smile a little in the right-hand traffic. We are all beginners.”

This photo shows a town in Sweden during the switchover on Sept. 3, 1967. And despite the visible mess, there were no serious accidents and only a couple of minor fender benders.