Tim Roxborogh's travel bugs: Driving on the wrong side of the road

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A weekly ode to the joys of moaning about your holiday, by Tim Roxborogh.

It took until my 30s for me to feel confident hiring rental cars in countries where you drive on the other side of the road. I seemed to have some kind of lurking, mostly dormant dyslexia that only revealed itself at roundabouts in foreign nations and it's with great relief this appears to have subsided. At least for now.

There are countless yarns — some with tragic consequences — of tourists getting muddled over which side of the road they should be on. That said, there's no country I've been to where the issue of what side to drive is more at the forefront than Myanmar. And none with a more bizarre back story.

A former British colony, the country once known to the world as Burma gained independence in 1948.

The years of British rule had brought many things, including cars with steering wheels on the right, made to drive on the left. Then in 1970, a radical change was made. Depending on who's telling the story, the man behind the move, General Ne Win, was variously inspired by everything from the words of a wizard, a witch doctor, his wife's astrologer, a vision he had in a dream, to a personal revelation he had based on a patriotic duty to undo any lingering British imprint on his country.

Whatever the motivation, the general decreed that Burmese drivers would switch to driving on the right from December 6, 1970 onwards. According to a positive local newspaper headline from the following day, things went as smooth as can be: "Right-hand side traffic brought into operation without a hitch" — The Guardian, Rangoon, Monday December 7, 1970.

Forty-three years later I found myself in Myanmar and it didn't take long to notice something mildly alarming: virtually every car, not to mention bus, is still right-hand drive, but as per the General's wishes, driving on the right too. This led me to believe the switch had been recent and not as far back as 1970. But then just as now, Myanmar's fleet is overwhelmingly right-hand drive. Where once that was a carry-over from colonialism, now it's more the reality that most imported cars in the country are from Japan.

Myanmar is not short on considerable charms, from the people to the jungles to the lakes to the mountains to the temples to the history; but this driving situation is borderline farcical. Though nowhere near as hazardous as neighbouring Thailand when it comes to road toll statistics, the latest World Health Organisation information has Myanmar with 20.3 road fatalities per 100,000 people (New Zealand's is 8.5, Thailand's a scarcely believable 36.2).

Indeed, looking at those stats it's a surprise the numbers aren't even higher, but the presence of co-pilots is undoubtedly saving lives. That's right, hop in a bus or mini-van in Myanmar and — with the driver unable to see any oncoming traffic while overtaking because, you know, the steering wheel is on the right and so is he — chances are he's accompanied by a co-pilot.

Brilliant! The co-pilot lets the driver know if it's alright to pass and together, they keep their passengers safe while still being able to get ahead of any pesky slowcoaches. It's a wonderful solution, though I have another one: Swap back to driving on the left. If things went "without a hitch" in 1970, it's bound to be even easier given the cars are all set for it this time around. The only downside is that we'd be doing all those co-pilots out of a job.

Tim Roxborogh hosts Newstalk ZB's Weekend Collective and blogs at RoxboroghReport.com