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Thread ID: 102960	2009-09-07 17:03:00	Samoa Goes "Outback" Or "Backwards"	SurferJoe46 (51)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
807807	2009-09-07 17:03:00	Chaos predicted as Samoa changes driving side Posted – 6 hours ago APIA, Samoa — Residents prayed for calm as Samoa prepared Monday to become the first country in nearly 40 years to switch driving from one side of the road to the other. Critics have predicted traffic chaos in the Pacific island nation of 180,000, and the country is banning alcohol sales for three days as a precaution, the prime minister said. The switch from driving on the right side of the road to the left takes effect from 6:00 a.m. Monday (1700 GMT, 1 p.m. EDT Monday). It is being ushered in with a two-day national holiday to reduce traffic. The Congregational Christian Church of Samoa, the country's largest denomination, offered blessings Sunday to help the switch go smoothly. "It's a must — people have to be blessed before we come to the (intersections) changes," said the Rev. Iutisone Salevao. The government wants to bring Samoa in line with Australia and New Zealand to encourage some of the 170,000 expatriate Samoans there to ship used cars — with steering wheels on the right side — home to relatives.:lol::blush: That last part I don't really pretend to understand. Can't Samoans buy incorrectly built cars and instead need to get them sent from youse guys? That's just absurd. How're ya gonna shift and steer with your left hand and hold an AK47 out the driver's window at the same time?	SurferJoe46 (51)
807808	2009-09-07 18:18:00	I once had a conversation with a guy name Pentti Arikala a rally driver from Finland... He trained up guys like McRae and both curretn Ford WRC drivers. And he had a notion that the gear leaver should be to the right of the driver (like the americans and europeans), because the right hand due to some genetic mumbo jumbo is more suited to changing gears than the left, something to do with the side of the brain... I can't remember all the details. But it's pretty silly what they are doing. Why change what works... Err isn't there an American Samoa? Which side of the road do they drive on? Just seems very weird, this will cause nothing but confusion (and undoubtedly accidents and fatalities) and an influxes of pieces of crap from here and Aussie.	Cato (6936)
807809	2009-09-07 19:37:00	It is a little known fact that the changeover from right to left is to much to do in one day . With this in mind, they have decided that the cars will change today and trucks will wait till tomorrow . Ken ;)	kenj (9738)
807810	2009-09-07 19:49:00	I have a brother in law out there at the moment and SWMBO and her son are off to visit Samoa next week will report back, needless to say they are not hiring a car while over there	gary67 (56)
807811	2009-09-07 21:12:00	It's all about cost - it's much cheaper to import Japanese cars either directly, or 2nd hand via NZ/Australia than it is to import left-hand-drive cars from the US. KOz: I would have thought that it would be better to keep your "better" arm (most people are right handed) on the steering wheel than it would be to use it to change gears?	somebody (208)
807812	2009-09-07 21:14:00	It is a little known fact that the changeover from right to left is to much to do in one day. With this in mind, they have decided that the cars will change today and trucks will wait till tomorrow. Ken ;) But all you have to do on the road is take the signs out and put them on the other side. :p	pcuser42 (130)
807813	2009-09-07 21:27:00	It's all about cost - it's much cheaper to import Japanese cars either directly, or 2nd hand via NZ/Australia than it is to import left-hand-drive cars from the US . Last time I was in Samoa there were very few x US models . Most were Toyotas and Suzukis sold as new and filtered down to food chain . The cost of new RHD cars will be the same as new LHD cars . The real reason that they are changing is all about corrupt politicians with their fingers in the used car market . Expect to see a flood of "junked" NZ cars that have bee written off here being given a lick and polish and shipped to Samoa and of course the gov there will also extract their 30% import duty on there . They also will expect the locals here to go to loan sharks and finance the sale and shipping of cars to Samoa . . The on good thing being there was not a Holden in site . .	paulw (1826)
807814	2009-09-07 22:02:00	But all you have to do on the road is take the signs out and put them on the other side. :p Nah - too hard. Just spin 'em 180 deg. Taxi drivers should have no problem, they have been practicing driving on either side for years.	R2x1 (4628)
807815	2009-09-07 23:22:00	Nah - too hard. Just spin 'em 180 deg. Taxi drivers should have no problem, they have been practicing driving on either side for years. Or they should do as New Zealanders were wont to do..........just drive down the middle of the road...............:lol:	Terry Porritt (14)
807816	2009-09-07 23:25:00	It's all about cost - it's much cheaper to import Japanese cars either directly, or 2nd hand via NZ/Australia than it is to import left-hand-drive cars from the US. KOz: I would have thought that it would be better to keep your "better" arm (most people are right handed) on the steering wheel than it would be to use it to change gears? Well, this conversation was about Irish guys in the PWRC stalling a lot more than other drivers. The theory was while driving "hard" took a lot of concentration and the right hand shifts gears far more easily than the left while driving. (Ie you have more options in the gearbox than you do on a steering wheel). The Irish were the only guys driving RHDs, the rest were in LHDs. 3 or 4 of them stalled on the same corner while most others didn't. IIRC he said it was about which side of the brain does what or some such, I can't remember it exactly, this was well over 4 years ago... (I didn't pay much attention to it then, it was my old man talking to him. I didn't even know who he was.)	Cato (6936)
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