Should we switch to driving on the right?

KungPao

Yes!

And McDonalds here should sell The Royal with cheese.

We have the metric system now, man.

EdgeCase

We should have 60+ years ago.

I always find it odd that Ireland, despite everything, was very very slow to adopt non UK international norms.

We clung onto things like imperial measurements for almost as long as the UK.

You'd think that we'd have gone for logical systems much sooner. Even just to cut the apron strings.

It's probably too complicated to do it now, although with the relatively short life of cars, we'd be mostly totally left hand drive within a decade or so at most.

The problem at this stage is traffic volumes, complex junctions that might not be reversible and so on.

It was simple to do decades ago.

Kitty6277

Irish roads in general are dangerous enough, never mind say changing the side of the road we drive on

Dakotabigone

Kitty6277 wrote: »

Irish roads in general are dangerous enough, never mind say changing the side of the road we drive on

They are the safest in the world.

EdgeCase

Dakotabigone wrote: »

They are the safest in the world.

Well, we're in the top few safest.

Despite the notions we have, statistically per 100,000km driven it's one of the safest places you can drive.

Charles Babbage

Dakotabigone wrote: »

Won’t someone think of the cyclists.

cylists already often go on the right

Kitty6277

Dakotabigone wrote: »

They are the safest in the world.

Hard to believe that when you see the state of some people’s driving tbh

Vic_08

EdgeCase wrote: »

We should have 60+ years ago.

I always find it odd that Ireland, despite everything, was very very slow to adopt non UK international norms.

We clung onto things like imperial measurements for almost as long as the UK.

You'd think that we'd have gone for logical systems much sooner. Even just to cut the apron strings.

It's probably too complicated to do it now, although with the relatively short life of cars, we'd be mostly totally left hand drive within a decade or so at most.

The problem at this stage is traffic volumes, complex junctions that might not be reversible and so on.

It was simple to do decades ago.

No it wasn't as referenced by Sweden in the 60's.

We also share a long border with the UK which has hundreds of road crossings.

Cars are not the only things on the road. HGVs have blindspots and European trucks which are used in the UK have much higher accident rates due to the problems with being driven from the wrong side. Buses and coaches have doors only on one side, every single one in the country would be unsafe to use so the entire fleet would have to be replaced overnight.

Again, can anyone point out 1 single benefit from doing this, now or 50 years ago?

No, we drive on the correct side of the road so why should we change. It’s europe and the us etc the drive on the wrong side.

Philipx

Balanadan wrote: »

To be more aligned with our European friends. I certainly think so.

Ah great Ted.

Go and put another madcap idea in Shane Ross's head why don't you.

:D:D

Graces7

Most of the roads I use are single lane anyways....

Atlantic Dawn

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

We should have never adopted km/h speed signs and speedometers until the UK also did.

Yes, we should never have become a republic either until they did. The Irish should never, ever do anything unless it entails following Mother England.

fxotoole

The vast majority of drivers on our roads haven’t a clue how to use indicators, roundabouts, hard shoulders, or stop signs. And now you want this shi’ite?????

no.8

Atlantic Dawn wrote:

We should have never adopted km/h speed signs and speedometers until the UK also did.

Disagree. We are a sovereign nation and they could just as likely keep us in the dark ages for ever.

Wanderer78

no.8 wrote:

Disagree. We are a sovereign nation and they could just as likely keep us in the dark ages for ever.

Sovereign nation! You sure?

no.8

1 clear advantage.... Access to a much bigger used car market . Imagine rocking over to Deutschland to pick up a savage new momo.

salmocab

How does this keep coming up? Roads are designed for driving on the left it’s not just a matter of turning signs around. Any complicated junction would need to be rebuilt. Practically every m50 junction. Billions spent just so we can get slightly better specced second hand cars.

tigerboon

Dakotabigone wrote: »

Won’t someone think of the cyclists.

Will they need to get right hand drive bikes or something??

Poor Uncle Tom

When was it changed to the left...:eek:

Silent Running

I dunno, the idea has some merit. Get Shane Ross to do the in-depth study, It could take years.

That's years where Ross isn't thinking up stupid ideas of his own to justify his salary, and of course he wouldn't come up with a workable plan.

dmc17

looksee wrote: »

Yes, we'll do it tomorrow, what could go wrong?

Don't think a 'big bang' approach such as this would work. We should start slowly by driving on the right on alternate days to get people used to it first before the complete switchover

Wanderer78

dmc17 wrote:

Don't think a 'big bang' approach such as this would work. We should start slowly by driving on the right on alternate days to get people used to it first before the complete switchover

And maybe have a reverse only day to

demanufactured

Why not.
Let's start at lunch time today.

Pawwed Rig

When it was done in Sweden it was one of the biggest projects that was ever undertaken in that country.
Many drivers already had left hand drive cars there and it was done in a period when most people didn't have a car.

To do that in Ireland today would cost billions. Couple this with the spike in road fatalities aa the vast majority of cars are right hand drive.

I would love if we did drive on the right but the cost would be just too much.

alias no.9

Balanadan wrote: »

To be more aligned with our European friends. I certainly think so.

Why don't you try it out for a few weeks and let us know how you get on, a little bit of research.

KaneToad

dmc17 wrote: »

Don't think a 'big bang' approach such as this would work. We should start slowly by driving on the right on alternate days to get people used to it first before the complete switchover

Novice drivers and women drivers should start it first (perhaps six months earlier) as they are more likely to need a longer adjustment period so that they would be ready for when the entire country changes over.

BeerWolf

We should use Americanized spellings while we're at it... :pac:

corner of hells

Would we have to use our indicators ?

Wanderer78

corner of hells wrote:

Would we have to use our indicators ?

What are they?

Samuel Vimes

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

We should have never adopted km/h speed signs and speedometers until the UK also did.

Why?
Why should UK policies determine our decisions?