Changing Lanes

I came across this the other day and although it happened 42 years ago it's still pretty interesting and a great example of Skandinavian planning and efficiency.

From The Volvo Owners Club...

September 3, 1967 marks the day when Sweden switched from driving on the left side of the road to the right side.

Traffic in Sweden – if the word can be applied for horses, oxen and carts – started to use the right side of the road in 1718 and did so until 1734, when suddenly left-hand traffic was introduced. Why? No one really knows. Maybe it was to have the swordhand – right for most people – closest to the enemy when meeting on horseback. And on the left side it stayed for more than 200 years.

In 1916, the Swedish parliament acknowledged left-hand traffic by law, but every year between 1920 and 1939, the parliament discussed whether to stay on the left side or move over to the right side of the road, which Sweden's neighbour countries in Scandinavia and the rest of the continent were already using. Nothing happened.

The parliament finally decided in 1963 that Sweden should make the transition from left-hand traffic to right-hand traffic in 1967. Preparations for the switch started.

On September 3, 1967, at 04.50 in the morning, the traffic everywhere in Sweden was directed over to the right side of the road and stopped. Everything stood absolutely still for 10 minutes, and at 05.00, when it started again, all road users in Sweden from heavy trucks to cyclists were already on the right side of the road, and they have stayed there since.

The photo above depicts the magic H date - a large H for Höger (right in Swedish) and Kungsgatan in Stockholm on the 3rd of September 1967 at 04.50 in the morning. The traffic is directed from the left to the right side of the street and halted.

Roads, crossings, roundabouts, flyovers etc had already been redesigned and some 360,000 road signs were changed during the night. The date had also been preceeded by an intensive national campaign, informing people about what was going to happen that day. Some 130,000 reminder signs had been put up everywhere along streets and roads, and most cars had an H-sticker on the dashboard in front of the driver in order to remind him or her.

During the whole month of September 1967, 59 people were killed in Swedish traffic and 1,077 people during the entire year of 1967. The year before, 1966, 99 people were killed in September and 1,313 during the whole year.

Seems to have worked out well for the Swedes. Now if we can just get the Brits and Japanese to make the switch.