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And now for Samoa - completely different
The tiny South Pacific island of Samoa (pop 177,000 and just 332km of paved roads) is about to switch from driving on the right side of the road to the left. Not only is this the first country to switch sides in many years (Yemen, 1977, seems to be the most recent) but it is also the first in living memory to switch to the British side rather than the American side.
And therein lies the reason for the changeover: apparently the government wants to discourage the import of American gas-guzzlers and encourage ex-pat Samoans in left-hand driving Australia and New Zealand to send back home more economical second-hand cars. Seems like a challenging way to protect the environment.
It brings to mind a press trip made by our editor to Hong Kong in 1996, some 18 months before the handover to China. At a meeting with a senior official from the Hong Kong tourism authority, one reporter asked whether China (right-hand drive) would likely force Hong Kong (left-hand drive) to switch. The official thought for a minute and then concluded that this wouldn't exactly be China's first priority - but his choice of words caused much merriment: "It won't happen overnight," he said...
I used to audit Toyota franchise in the 90s in the South Pacific countries and been to Samoa a few times. There are 2 Samoas - Western Samoa and American Samoa and I assume this article relates to American Samoa. In American Samoa they only had one main paved road that connected the harbour to the airport and all the settlements and developments were along this main road. I was surprised with the number of large American SUVs and other gas-guzzlers for such a small country (smaller than some of our towns). The other real surprise for me was every second working adult was either in the army, police or other government employment. It had so many police and mobile police with speed cameras - even though there was only one road!!! An interesting place.
Posted by :Hari Iyer | September 3, 2009 4:08 PM
Interesting story. Actually, I believe the story is about the other Samoa, which used to be called Western Samoa. But I'd guess your recollections of American S. would also match Western S.
Posted by :Andy Sawers | September 3, 2009 5:47 PM
Samoa is the first country in 40 years to switch driving sides www.greatecs.com
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Posted by :lee | January 16, 2010 5:22 PM
It’s funny that you in spite of everything spoke up! I have been waiting for someone to bring this out to the open! Anyway… nice post. I will be back.
Posted by :Joan Villari | February 8, 2010 2:51 AM
Interesting blog, as an expat Brit, now living in Argentina, this was especially interesting.
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