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The Weird and Wonderful Driving Laws


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Has anyone who's driven abroad ever come across any strange driving laws? I was reading this little article earlier: https://www.confused.com/on-the-road/driving-abroad/driving-abroad-watch-out-for-these-strange-laws

...and some of these laws seem extra strange. It's interesting to see how other countries police their roads. 

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I'm surprised they didn't include the "rechts vor links" (right before left) rule used in residential areas of Germany. Basically junctions in many such areas often have no road markings and are highlighted by a X road sign. You have to slow down to almost a stop at any such junction and check if anyone is approaching the junction from the road on your right. If there is, you have to stop and give way to them before checking again and proceeding.

I had lived and been driving there for several months before one of my concerned German friends explained this to me....

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^ Luxembourg applies the same rule. To the surprise (and sometimes expensive repair cost) of most people coming to live here from other countries.

You can also be fined for not cleaning your license plate.

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The same 'priority for right' rule also applies in Belgium and The Netherlands. It really is not logical... Until a few years ago, you lost your priority when coming from the right if you came to a stop. But that led to even more discussions! I always thought it would be far more reasonable to give right of way to cars coming from your left (when driving on the right hand side of the road), as those have already crossed one lane and letting them merge will benefit the flow of traffic.

I have made many mistakes in my life. Buying a multiple Lotus is not one of them.

 

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  • Gold FFM

I'm still stumped by that law where some people have to drive on the right hand side of the road.

What's with that?

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All we know is that when they stop making this, we will be properly, properly sad.Jeremy Clarkson on the Esprit.

Opinions are like armpits. Everyone has them, some just stink more than others.

For forum issues, please contact one of the Moderators. (I'm not one of the elves anymore, but I'll leave the link here)

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It relates to duelling, using your sword and protecting your scabbard. I think it was Napoleon who decreed it safer to pass each other on the left.

DanR

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The changeover (from left to right) actually came about due to the proliferation of horse drawn carriages. The driver, who stood at the rear, needed their whiphand (ie the right) clear of any other traffic. Hence, it was better that everyone drove on the right. 

Previous to that, with most travellers on horseback, it was better that your swordhand (ie the right) faced your oncoming opponent/traffic. Hence, travelling on the left. 

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  • Gold FFM

Not interested in all of this history rubbish.

Pass on the right I say. We even have signs here that say Drive on the Left. We have to be correct. When have you ever known a foreigner (or an American) to be right? :P 

All we know is that when they stop making this, we will be properly, properly sad.Jeremy Clarkson on the Esprit.

Opinions are like armpits. Everyone has them, some just stink more than others.

For forum issues, please contact one of the Moderators. (I'm not one of the elves anymore, but I'll leave the link here)

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On 02/08/2018 at 08:22, Bravo73 said:

The changeover (from left to right) actually came about due to the proliferation of horse drawn carriages. The driver, who stood at the rear, needed their whiphand (ie the right) clear of any other traffic. Hence, it was better that everyone drove on the right. 

Previous to that, with most travellers on horseback, it was better that your swordhand (ie the right) faced your oncoming opponent/traffic. Hence, travelling on the left. 

That's really quite interesting actually! I'd never really thought about where it would've come from 

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That is also why a lot of ‘older’ nations drive on the left (us, Japan etc). Although, we obviously made bits of the Empire also drive on the left (Australia etc). 

Napoleon did indeed change France (and therefore, most of the rest of Europe at the time) from left to right by Imperial decree. However, Sweden (in)famously only changed relatively recently - in the 50s or 60s some time. 

 

It was ‘67:

kill-on-a-sunday-morning-in-september-of

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Crikey, if I lived there at that time I would've probably avoided driving anywhere for a few days til people got used to it! Really interesting stuff though and I'll have to read up more on it. Was there any particular reason they changed the side of the road they drive on back then? 

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

Quote

Background[edit]

There were various major arguments for the change:

  • All of Sweden's neighbours (including Norway and Finland, with which Sweden has land borders) drove on the right, with 5 million vehicles crossing those borders annually.[3]
  • Approximately 90 percent of Swedes drove left-hand drive (LHD) vehicles.[3] This led to many head-on collisions when passing on narrow two-lane highways, which were common in Sweden due to the fact that the country's low population density and traffic levels made road-building expensive in per capita terms.[4] City buses were among the very few vehicles that conformed to the normal opposite-steering wheel rule, being right-hand drive (RHD).[5]

However, the change was widely unpopular; in a 1955 referendum, 83 percent voted to keep driving on the left. Nevertheless, on May 10, 1963, the Swedish Parliament (Riksdagen) approved the Prime Minister Tage Erlander's government proposal of an introduction of right hand traffic in 1967, as the number of cars on the road tripled from 500,000 to 1.5 million, and was expected to reach 2.8 million by 1975.[6] A body known as Statens Högertrafikkommission (HTK) ("the state right-hand traffic commission") was established to oversee the changeover.[7] It also began implementing a four-year education programme, with the advice of psychologists.[4]

The campaign included displaying the Dagen H logo on various commemorative items, including milk cartons and underwear.[4][8] Swedish television held a contest for songs about the change; the winning entry was "Håll dig till höger, Svensson" ('Keep to the right, Svensson') written by Expressen journalist by Peter Himmelstrand[1] and performed by The Telstars.[9]

As Dagen H neared, every intersection was equipped with an extra set of poles and traffic signals wrapped in black plastic. Workers roamed the streets early in the morning on Dagen H to remove the plastic. Similarly, a parallel set of lines were painted on the roads with white paint, then covered with black tape. Before Dagen H, Swedish roads had used yellow lines.

The switch[edit]

On Dagen H, Sunday, 3 September, all non-essential traffic was banned from the roads from 01:00 to 06:00. Any vehicles on the roads during that time had to follow special rules. All vehicles had to come to a complete stop at 04:50, then carefully change to the right-hand side of the road and stop again (to give others time to switch sides of the road and avoid a head on collision) before being allowed to proceed at 05:00. In Stockholm and Malmö, however, the ban was longer — from 10:00 on Saturday until 15:00 on Sunday — to allow work crews to reconfigure intersections.[10] Certain other towns also saw an extended ban, from 15:00 on Saturday until 15:00 on Sunday.

One-way streets presented unique problems. Bus stops had to be constructed on the other side of the street. Intersections had to be reshaped to allow traffic to merge.

Results[edit]

The relatively smooth changeover saw a temporary reduction in the number of accidents.[11] On the day of the change, only 157 minor accidents were reported, of which only 32 involved personal injuries, with only a handful serious.[12] On the Monday following Dagen H, there were 125 reported traffic accidents, compared to a range of 130 to 198 for previous Mondays, none of them fatal. Experts suggested that changing to driving on the right reduced accidents while overtaking, as people already drove left-hand drive vehicles, thereby having a better view of the road ahead; additionally, the change made a marked surge in perceived risk that exceeded the target level and thus was followed by very cautious behaviour that caused a major decrease in road fatalities. Indeed, fatal car-to-car and car-to-pedestrian accidents dropped sharply as a result, and the number of motor insurance claims went down by 40%.

These initial improvements did not last, however. The number of motor insurance claims returned to 'normal' over the next six weeks and, by 1969, the accident rates were back to the levels seen before the change.[13][14][15]

Trams in central Stockholm, in Helsingborg and most lines in Malmö were withdrawn and replaced by buses, and over one thousand new buses were purchased with doors on the right-hand side. Some 8,000 older buses were retrofitted to provide doors on both sides, while Gothenburg and Malmö exported their right-hand drive (RHD) buses to Pakistan and Kenya.[16] The modification of buses, paid by the state, was the largest cost of the change. In Gothenburg and Norrköping, and in two Stockholm suburbs, tram networks continued to operate.

Although all road traffic in Sweden became right handed, metro and railway systems did not switch to new rules and continue to drive on the left, with the exception of tram systems. Additionally, many of them were abandoned as a result of Dagen H; only the trams in Norrköping and Gothenburg and three suburban lines in the Stockholm area (Nockebybanan and Lidingöbanan) survived. Gothenburg had high cost for rebuilding trams, while Stockholm had cost only for bus purchasing, since the remaining lines had bidirectional trams with doors on both sides. In any event, most trams in Stockholm were replaced by the metro, a decision made long before the Dagen H decision.

Fellow Nordic country Iceland changed to driving on the right in May 1968, on a day known as H-dagurinn.[11]

 

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I seem to have read somewhere that Sweden drove  left hand drive vehicles on the left so as to be able to judge the side of the road during the winter when snow was on the ground.

Ghana and Nigeria switched from driving on the left  to driving on the right in the 1970s. This was due to the surrounding counties all driving on the right.

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  • Gold FFM

Fortunately, Australia has no surrounding countries to stuff things up which is why we drive on the left. That, and it is the 'right' thing to do. Or should that be the 'left' thing to do?

All we know is that when they stop making this, we will be properly, properly sad.Jeremy Clarkson on the Esprit.

Opinions are like armpits. Everyone has them, some just stink more than others.

For forum issues, please contact one of the Moderators. (I'm not one of the elves anymore, but I'll leave the link here)

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