Samoans sabotage new drive-on-the-left signs

A march against the change drew more than 20,000 Samoans. Photo / Supplied

The revolt over Samoa's road switch has begun, with villagers taking to the streets to redirect new road arrows and remove signs directing drivers to "keep left".

Unrest is brewing over a bold move by the Government in Apia to change the flow of traffic to the left side of the road to bring Samoa into line with Australia and New Zealand.

The change is just two weeks away but officials are facing a backlash.

Villagers in the town of Laulii have authorities fuming after they altered the new directional arrows on the road by painting them so they pointed the wrong way.

"Road workers had painted the lines on without the end points of the arrows and some locals have come out and added them on, but the wrong way," said Mataafa Keni Lesa, editor of the Samoa Observer newspaper.

"You can imagine how angry the authorities are."

Others disgruntled at the move have removed more than a dozen road signs that reminded drivers to keep left from September 7.

The newspaper has been reporting a mood of increasing dissatisfaction over the switch, which is the brainchild of Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, who hopes it will encourage relatives living abroad to send cars home to Samoa.

But opponents, including the action group People Against Switching Sides (Pass), argue the move is costly, pointless and being carried out with little co-ordination or consultation.

Pass still hopes to halt the switch by proceeding with a case in the Supreme Court to prove it is unconstitutional.

An Australian engineering expert, Professor Thomas Triggs of Monash University, told the court on Thursday that he predicted more accidents and road deaths if the change went ahead.

He feared for pedestrians, who were very likely to forget which direction to look when crossing the road.

- AAP