Should NZ Change to Left-Hand Drive?

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#1638196 21-Sep-2016 12:56

Seems a lot of kiwis have trouble driving sensibly on the left hand side of the road at the moment - hate to think how changing it would work out! The death toll around a change-over would be significant.

Can't see any benefit from what would be a massive expense and logistical effort.

Would be much cheaper (for random example and keeping on the traffic theme) to give everyone in NZ a new fully electric car and build a full charging network. At least once that was done the country would save huge amounts of foreign exchange each year from reduced oil imports.

Given that the government has been less than luke-warm on encouraging EV uptake - presumably because they dont want to spend anything on it - I cant see them being convinced that changing the side of the road that we drive on would be a good investment.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

mattwnz

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#1638215 21-Sep-2016 13:53

robjg63:

Seems a lot of kiwis have trouble driving sensibly on the left hand side of the road at the moment - hate to think how changing it would work out! The death toll around a change-over would be significant.

Can't see any benefit from what would be a massive expense and logistical effort.

Would be much cheaper (for random example and keeping on the traffic theme) to give everyone in NZ a new fully electric car and build a full charging network. At least once that was done the country would save huge amounts of foreign exchange each year from reduced oil imports.

Given that the government has been less than luke-warm on encouraging EV uptake - presumably because they dont want to spend anything on it - I cant see them being convinced that changing the side of the road that we drive on would be a good investment.

I don't think changing the side of the road is going to make any significant change to safety. Infact if they wanted to reduce accidents, they could increase the distance cars are required to travel behind one another, and reduce the speed limit on roads. Also requiring cars have dashcams would also help, as it will mean that people will drive more careful and not run stop signs and traffic lights. I am surprised insurance companies don't offer a discount like they do for people who have home alarms, for having a dashcam.

richms

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#1638251 21-Sep-2016 14:46

mattwnz:

I don't think changing the side of the road is going to make any significant change to safety. Infact if they wanted to reduce accidents, they could increase the distance cars are required to travel behind one another, and reduce the speed limit on roads. Also requiring cars have dashcams would also help, as it will mean that people will drive more careful and not run stop signs and traffic lights. I am surprised insurance companies don't offer a discount like they do for people who have home alarms, for having a dashcam.

Dashcams seldom get useful footage of people being dangerous to you, you will get lots of video of other people doing dumb crap well out infront of you to other people, but if someone cuts you off all you usually get on the camera is you yelling "Oh F!" and swerving slightly and the other car moves back into their lane and never shows on camera doing anything wrong. Car behind would have excelent dashcam of moron giant 4x4 driver not paying attention, but my cam, nothing.

Richard rich.ms

old3eyes

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#1638268 21-Sep-2016 15:31

robjg63:

Seems a lot of kiwis have trouble driving sensibly on the left hand side of the road at the moment - hate to think how changing it would work out! The death toll around a change-over would be significant.

Can't see any benefit from what would be a massive expense and logistical effort.

Would be much cheaper (for random example and keeping on the traffic theme) to give everyone in NZ a new fully electric car and build a full charging network. At least once that was done the country would save huge amounts of foreign exchange each year from reduced oil imports.

Given that the government has been less than luke-warm on encouraging EV uptake - presumably because they dont want to spend anything on it - I cant see them being convinced that changing the side of the road that we drive on would be a good investment.

In Sweden when they changed to the right back in May 1967 everyone had to learn to drive again. The road toll went down Same Would happen here. I remember a couple of years ago people here in GZ and in the media saying what a disaster changing the right hand rule would be and there would be cars at intersections on their roofs with their wheels spinning. Well we changed it and it was a non event..

Same thing would happen when switching to the right if it was done correctly..

Regards,

Old3eyes

Behodar

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#1638288 21-Sep-2016 15:55

mattwnz: Infact if they wanted to reduce accidents, they could increase the distance cars are required to travel behind one another

Or just enforce the current rule...

mattwnz

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#1638292 21-Sep-2016 16:00

Behodar:

mattwnz: Infact if they wanted to reduce accidents, they could increase the distance cars are required to travel behind one another

Or just enforce the current rule...

True, but they seem to focus more on speed and tolerances. Where many accidents are caused by travelling too close. Although this new tech, that automatically stops a car from hitting the car infront will help in the future as more cars get the tech built in.

kharris

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#1638298 21-Sep-2016 16:12

Behodar:

mattwnz: Infact if they wanted to reduce accidents, they could increase the distance cars are required to travel behind one another

Or just enforce the current rule...

Don't get me started. Following distances seem to be a joke for a lot of people. I'm sick of being tail-gated when I'm doing the speed limit (or even... gasp... slightly over it).

Traffic light have become an indication it seems... I observe daily, traffic going through red lights... including buses and taxes. In fact don't get me started on Wellington taxi drivers.... arrrggggghhh!

and to finish.... the new smart motorway in Wellington does not work because nobody wants to follow the posted speed limit. When it says 60 people are still doing 80-100 where possible and the congestion is no different. Mind you that is no surprise really, not many thought they needed to follow to temporary 70 when it was being built. The rules are only for people that can't drive like a legend aren't they?

Swapping sides? No thanks... not until people learn to drive better in traffic and respect other drivers instead of treating the road as if they are they only one on it that is important.

Kirk

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old3eyes

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#1638303 21-Sep-2016 16:25

kharris:

Behodar:

mattwnz: Infact if they wanted to reduce accidents, they could increase the distance cars are required to travel behind one another

Or just enforce the current rule...

Don't get me started. Following distances seem to be a joke for a lot of people. I'm sick of being tail-gated when I'm doing the speed limit (or even... gasp... slightly over it).

Traffic light have become an indication it seems... I observe daily, traffic going through red lights... including buses and taxes. In fact don't get me started on Wellington taxi drivers.... arrrggggghhh!

and to finish.... the new smart motorway in Wellington does not work because nobody wants to follow the posted speed limit. When it says 60 people are still doing 80-100 where possible and the congestion is no different. Mind you that is no surprise really, not many thought they needed to follow to temporary 70 when it was being built. The rules are only for people that can't drive like a legend aren't they?

Swapping sides? No thanks... not until people learn to drive better in traffic and respect other drivers instead of treating the road as if they are they only one on it that is important.

Have the wellington buses got "Free left turn on the red" down to a fine art like here in Auckland??

Regards,

Old3eyes

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#1638304 21-Sep-2016 16:27

kharris: In fact don't get me started on Wellington taxi drivers.... arrrggggghhh!

At least I have yet to see an NZ taxi going at 110 in a 60 area like our driver in Greece a few months ago...

kharris

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#1638306 21-Sep-2016 16:28

old3eyes:

Have the wellington buses got "Free left turn on the red" down to a fine art like here in Auckland??

No, they just ignore the lights altogether if at all possible, and the speed limits a lot of the time.

Kirk

ScuL

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#1638411 21-Sep-2016 21:26

I don't think it's necessary to change. Switching sides of the road/car is not that complicated, it just takes a few hours of getting used to.

I've learnt how to drive in a country that drives on the right and held my license there for nearly 10 years.
Then I moved to the UK and learnt to drive on the left (although I had previously driven on the left in Ireland and Australia in rental cars), and did so for another 7 years.

The flow of traffic is really no different whether you drive on the left or on the right, it's simple a matter of what you're used to and feels naturally comfortable.
I can honestly say that after several years on both sides of the road I feel fully comfortable driving on both sides of the road and never have any adjustment issues.

The first year in the UK I kept my LHD vehicle (in a RHD country). After that I sold it and obtained a RHD vehicle. I frequently took my UK car over to continental Europe via the Channel Tunnel and the ferries, and have spent several months driving a RHD vehicle on LHD road systems.

The challenges you will face are:

* car parks, ticketing machines etc.
* drive-throughs (McD window is on the other side)
* overtaking (this is the hardest one)

It is very very challenging to overtake a vehicle if you drive a LHD vehicle in a RHD country or vice versa, particularly if you're sat behind a big HGV/lorry/truck. You simply don't have the visibility.

Other than that the issues are negligible.

Oh please note that converting a vehicle does not stop with the steering wheel. Lighting systems are often overlooked. LHD vehicles have their headlight beams directed towards the right of the road, RHD vehicles have their headlight beams directed towards the left of the road. Hence why UK vehicles driving in mainland Europe must legally use light beam deflectors

https://www.amazon.co.uk/HEADLAMP-DEFLECTORS-CONVERTORS-ADAPTOR-DRIVING/dp/B007T7SIRO

If you decide to permanently convert a vehicle you must also swap any reversing lights and fog lights (if they are only on one side of the vehicle rather than both)

oxnsox: Great idea, but if we're truely commited to globalism shouldn't we also change our power systems to 110volts, our emergency dial number to 911,

The majority of the world actually uses the 230V system

Similarly 112 is actually the dominant emergency phone number in most countries with 911 being a strong runner up.

NzBeagle: I'm not keen, as another has mentioned, I feel driving a RHD manual is more suited to my being right handed, as I've got my right hand on the wheel.

I have the opposite, it feels far more natural to change gears with your right hand, if you're right handed that is.

mattwnz:

If this is soley to protect NZ drivers from poor overseas drivers who don't know our road rules and which side of the road to drive on, then that is a government issue. Requiring them to sit a test, or to have a driver is a possibility.

Can we please drop this statement? I frequently see Kiwi's using this but it is not realistic and not legal unless New Zealand decides to abandon the Geneva Convention on Road Traffic 1949.

The consequences for Kiwi travellers to other countries would be dire.

If you're really taking the Convention strictly then we should ban Chinese drivers from driving in NZ because China has not ratified the treaty.

Haere taka mua, taka muri; kaua e wha.

old3eyes

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#1638565 22-Sep-2016 09:18

Emergency code 112 is a new European code..

PS 911 works here in NZ as well.

Regards,

Old3eyes

shk292

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#1638675 22-Sep-2016 11:28

ScuL:

Can we please drop this statement? I frequently see Kiwi's using this but it is not realistic and not legal unless New Zealand decides to abandon the Geneva Convention on Road Traffic 1949.

The consequences for Kiwi travellers to other countries would be dire.

Totally agree with this - I cringe whenever I hear xenophobes on the radio suggest we should require a test before foreigners are allowed to drive here. This would of course be reciprocated, and as someone who often makes short stopovers in overseas countries and hires a car for a couple of days, the hassle would be awful.

I've driven with both systems and have never had a problem with either. The worst case is when you have your own car (eg UK) in a LHD country, because having a local car is a reminder to drive on the correct side. Switching sides in your own country would be even worse - as well as all the legacy vehicles with controls on the wrong side, you also have millions of drivers who have "muscle memory" of driving on the LHS of familiar roads. We'd have a lengthy transition period where the road toll would increase.

Although you could mitigate the legacy vehicle problem by subsidising car scrapping, this would be a huge cost to the taxpayer and damaging to the environment.

I can't remember why the OP suggested this as a good idea, but the more I think about it, the worse it seems.

richms

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#1638767 22-Sep-2016 14:09

I cant just drive in China with my NZ license. Why does the reverse apply?

Richard rich.ms

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#1638768 22-Sep-2016 14:17

richms:

I cant just drive in China with my NZ license. Why does the reverse apply?

Because the temporary licence required for tourists in China is merely a money making scheme, in much the same way the Cook Islands drivers licence (now scrapped) was. There’s no test, just a series of forms to fill out, presentation of your existing licence, and a payment.

I don’t personally advocate using that system here as it serves no real purpose.

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