Two thirds of the world population, and a large and increasing number of our tourists, come from places where they drive on the right.
We could implement a switch to the majority side in conjunction with a whole re-engineering of our road transport to respond to the urgency of climate change. There is no doubt that the current use of fossil-fuelled personal transport has to change if we are to make our contribution to cooling the planet. We should combine a switch to the right with conversion to electric vehicles and slower speed - together improving safety and our impact on a heating world.
I know from bitter experience that it is very difficult to stay on the right side of the road when one sets off to drive in some northern jurisdictions. For us the left is our comfort zone; for many of our visitors comfort and certainty are found on the right.
Even as a pedestrian tourist it is a mission to stay alert to what is coming on the left. Somehow, even when concentrating hard, the eyes that know they must look left have an overwhelming desire to look right.
How much more difficult, and terrifying, to get into the (apparent) passenger side of a strange vehicle at Auckland Airport and set off to the motorway out of town. The driver probably feels in peril, out of control, on the wrong side of the road, going the wrong way around traffic islands with vehicles bearing down on the right which should be the safe side.
Once on the highway, following the leader is reasonably straightforward; the next troubles rise on quieter roads, where cues are few and a moment of lapsed concentration can spell disaster. Particular hazards are re-starts after a photo opportunity, or at complicated intersections. Then all the reflexes ensure reversion to the comfortable, right, but wrong, side of the road. Stickers on rental car dashboards and heavy arrows on the road all help, but they do not eliminate the split-second erroneous decisions, or looking the wrong way, that lead to tragedy.
How did it happen that the world has evolved fundamentally incompatible road rules so that in parts of the world right is right and in others left is right?
It is a long story, starting with horse transport; with the sword worn on the right, the right arm had to be ready for all hostile advances, so riders kept to the left of the road. All British colonies followed suit when motorised vehicles were introduced. In the US and France, where they did heavy hauling with two horses, the driver traditionally sat on the left horse, not on the load behind. To get a good view of the clearance from other such vehicles and their large wheels, driving on the right side of the road was adopted.
It seems that from such simple beginnings the current world chaos developed. At first it was simply local custom, but eventually, as traffic increased and horses made redundant, jurisdictions proclaimed and enacted laws for one side or the other, alas without considering uniformity. Who would have thought that a decision made in England in 1800 would have implications for its antipode in 2014?
The majority of old British colonies drive on the left as Britain does. Apart from UK, Ireland, Malta and Cyprus, all of Europe drives on the right. After World War II, Sweden, then alone in mainland Europe, switched from left to right. The British Government toyed with that idea at the time of European Union, but powerful interests kept its drivers on the left. There was a period in Canadian history when the British states drove on the left and the French ones on the right - interstate travel would have been very challenging, but perhaps it was infrequent. This situation ended finally in uniformity in 1949. Japan, although never related to Britain, drives on the left. In 2009 Samoa made the switch from right to left, largely to benefit from cheap used cars from Japan and Australasia.
So who are the lefties we share with? The above mentioned of course; plus India, Pakistan and Bangladesh; PNG, Indonesia and Thailand; most of southeast Africa and two tiny countries in South America, the British remnants of Suriname and Guyana.
I am advocating that we in New Zealand should change and drive on the right like the majority of the world. We should do so in concert with Australia, our greatest source of visitors. And the UK of course - they would be eternally grateful if we were to nudge them into conformity with Europe. And it might help if Japan changed too as we source so many of our cars from there - both new and used. On second thoughts, having fewer old and cheap cars handed down from our wealthier neighbours would help the environment and encourage New Zealanders to rely on cleaner means of transport.
Should we encourage others to change simultaneously? Of the one third of the population that are left-side users, the greatest numbers are in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia. Anyone who has visited these countries and used their roads would know that the driving side of the road is largely theoretical, so I am not sure any legal change would matter.
There are many huge challenges to transition such as this. All road signage would have to be redone - and some of the clutter could be reduced at the same time. It is possible to drive on the right hand side of the road in the right hand side of the vehicle - but it is far from safe and comfortable, so retro-fitting would be desirable, and a good employment opportunity. Buses too would have to be adapted.
It would be a big logistical task to make the change, but we know it has been done and it is possible. Our roads would be safer and we would be safer drivers as tourists ourselves.
This is the beginning of a discussion; our safe future requires that it be serious.
Robin Briant is a retired doctor and occasional writer, from Gisborne.
