Danger time to come, say Samoans

Samoan police will remain on alert for accidents today, the second day since the switch to driving on the left.

Yesterday's change - brought in by the Government to allow those with relatives in Australia or New Zealand to ship in cars, which is cheaper than bringing them in from the United States - appeared to go well.

But authorities are not easing up, as they believe the danger period could come in the next few days.

"The time of most concern is when motorists believe themselves adjusted to the new conditions and press the accelerator a little harder," said Land Transport Authority chief executive Leasi Galuvao.

"That's why the safety messages will persist up to three months from now," he told the Samoa Observer.

Meanwhile, bus companies are debating whether to strike, claiming they cannot afford to make the necessary changes to their buses and that the Government is not giving them enough help.

The Samoan Government declared a two-day holiday and three-day ban on liquor sales while people got used to the change.

At dawn yesterday horns tooted, emergency sirens wailed and church bells rang out as the switch began.

Long queues of cars flanked Beach Rd in the capital, Apia, when traffic was directed by national radio broadcast to stop at 5.50am. Final instructions were issued about driving on "the other side" and at 6.10am they were off.

A main siren marked the switch, setting off a stream of hooting horns never before heard in the heart of Apia.

"The noise level rose when the fire trucks joined in with their emergency sirens piercing the cool morning air and made it feel like all of Apia was on fire," news website Samoalive reported.

National Council of Churches chairman the Rev Oka Fauoloto held an early-morning prayer service before Police Minister Toleafoa Faafisi used a national radio broadcast to instruct drivers everywhere to stop their vehicles.

Teams of police officers and officials from the Land and Transport authorities were out at every intersection around Apia, with others in selected locations in rural areas.

Traffic soon flowed with guidance from police and local authorities as hundreds of people lined the streets to witness the historic day.

Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi said the Government had already widened roads, added new road markings and signs and installed traffic-slowing speed humps on key roads on the two main islands of Upolu and Savai'i.

The Government will continue to allow vehicles with left-side steering wheels after the changeover, he said, and still had to address the problems of buses with doors and steering now on the wrong side.

- ADDITIONAL REPORTING: AP