"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse)
09/08/2015 at 15:08 • Filed to: Sweden, Dagen H
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"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse)
09/08/2015 at 15:08 • Filed to: Sweden, Dagen H | 6
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Today (kind of) represents the 48th anniversary of Sweden’s turn to the dark side. Yes, their government, as quite opposed to the people, decided to drive on the right and decided that the 3rd of September would be the day. So Dagen H (the H day, or drive-on-the-right day) got its own logo and lengthy preparations were entered into, including paying bus operators to modify existing buses (some older ones were instead exported to Pakistan and Kenya) and painting new road markings which were covered until H hour. The opportunity was also taken to get rid of most of Sweden’s tram services rather than convert them.
In the event it all went off quite well despite the fears of those being forced to make the change. Yes, they were forced. Several referenda took place, the most recent being in 1955 when 83% said “nej” to the idea, but that didn’t discourage the government from going ahead regardless.
The actual change took place at 5am on the 3rd, all non essential traffic having been banned for the night. At 4.50 anyone on the road had to stop, wait until at least 5.00, and then proceed på höger .Road traffic accidents fell for some time afterwards as people were driving so cautiously but then returned to the old level - which was a pity because one reason for the change was that most vehicles were already lhd and were thought to be more likely to be involved in collisions when on the “wrong” side. It’s still controversial in Sweden.
Have a view of the Kungsgatan in Stockholm mid change.
I’ve been there often enough to recognise the location, it’s just !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
Interestingly, yesterday was the sixth anniversary of Samoa doing exactly the opposite and moving to the left.
Ash78, voting early and often
> Cé hé sin
09/08/2015 at 15:10 |
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Just the logistics of changing all the signs and road stripes is enough to make me want to keep the status quo...
Svend
> Cé hé sin
09/08/2015 at 15:34 |
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The U.K. has looked a few times over the years in swapping sides and the cost alone is incredibly insane. When the E.U. said we had to go metric the costs alone for changing the road signs form miles to kilometres was ridiculous and would of taken years (thankfully we are also exempt from this rule/law and use both miles and kilometres in daily life).
In 1969 when it was really looked into it was estimated to cost £264 million which in today’s money is about £3.5 billion but if done today would cost considerably more.
deekster_caddy
> Svend
09/08/2015 at 16:02 |
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I can see this costing a whole ton of money. It’s far more than just signage, many exit onramps and offramps would need to be rebuilt. They are similar in design, but there will be many ramps where the setup is just wrong.
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Svend
> deekster_caddy
09/08/2015 at 16:28 |
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Yes, as said ‘the costs alone for changing the road signs...’. It’s many things as many junctions, etc... are not symmetrical and large exchanges such as Spaghetti Junction would be a massive task.
Urambo Tauro
> Cé hé sin
09/08/2015 at 19:04 |
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Håll dig till höger, Svensson!