Switching sides: Sweden did it, should we? & More News Here

This is a visitor put up by Greater Auckland reader MrPlod

On Sunday, September 3, 1967, simply 55 days after New Zealand transformed to Decimal Currency, Sweden modified from driving on the left-hand aspect of the highway to driving on the fitting hand aspect.

As you may think, this change was something however simple. The choice was not taken flippantly and took many makes an attempt to lastly get accepted. But they did it and now have a number of the most secure roads on the earth.

Finally, every thing was prepared. At 4:50 a.m. on September 3, 1967, as crowds of individuals gathered to look at, all autos on the highway have been instructed to come back to a halt. They have been then directed to maneuver fastidiously from the left aspect of the highway to the fitting, and wait. At the stroke of 5:00, following a radio countdown, an announcement was made — “Sweden now has right-hand driving” — and site visitors was allowed to renew. Time Magazine referred to as the occasion “a brief but monumental traffic jam.”

In this put up I’ll argue that NOW is the fitting time for New Zealand to be making the identical change as a result of for a nation that imports 100% of its highway transport autos this may align us with the key automobile producing nations of the long run that are ALL right-hand drive (RHD).

For starters 80% of the world’s motor autos are manufactured immediately in right-hand drive nations. This has been the case because the mid Nineties.

The high ten RHD nations embody all of the leaders in quantity manufacturing besides Japan:

There are a quantity in right here constructing different nations’ autos however importantly the highest three EV constructing nations stand out above; China, Germany and the USA.

Then think about this desk. The annual manufacturing of the highest 9 LHD nations.

Apart from Japan, none of those will be thought-about to be on the vanguard of automotive design and growth. And NONE are on the vanguard of EV design & development. The UK is perhaps for top finish and unique automobiles, however the remainder are primarily manufacturing slender ranges of LHD variations of different nations’ autos. LHD will be summed up as Japan, Indonesia, and the British Empire.

On the idea of the above alone New Zealand would open itself as much as a far better vary and number of importable autos have been we aligned to the RHD quite than the LHD nations.

The LHD stand-out, Japan, is dragging its ft in transitioning to EVs. Sure the hybrid Prius was an enormous advance when launched in 1997 and Toyota has executed properly to hybridise most of its fleet however are resisting a full transition to EVs. Their enormous funding in hydrogen is a aspect present. Ask any competent physicist or chemical engineer to stroll you thru the power economics of hydrogen powered automobiles and it makes little sense. Trains and vehicles is perhaps a chance, however automobiles aren’t. Elsewhere, the Japanese motor business is doubling down on ICE engine effectivity and hybrids.

The Japanese Automobile Manufacturing Association (JAMA) will declare that Japan ranks quantity three on the earth for Electrified Passenger Vehicle adoption (at 36% in 2020) behind Norway (83% and Iceland 58%). That is as a result of they name HVs, PHeVs, EVs and FCVs as “electrified”. Only 0.38% have been full electrical autos.

So Japan’s automotive future is ICE, Hybrid & Hydrogen. Continuing to purchase new and second hand Japanese autos will tie New Zealand into a very delayed transition to EVs.

Now that you simply’ve thought-about the above and could also be open to the concept of utilizing a transition to RHD to speed up the electrification of our fleet let’s additionally take into consideration how such a change might obtain a number of the aims which are near the hearts of the readers of this weblog and why pricey readers you should be a part of me in campaigning for this basic change and every thing that will observe. The change to RHD would speed up all the following;

• Our imaginative and prescient zero journey
• Road house reallocation
• Increased funding in public transport
• Accelerated uptake of recent era electrical passenger autos and electrical, hydrogen and fuel turbine vehicles
• Transfer of highway freight to rail and coast transport
• Investment in regional passenger rail
• Bringing the local weather change refuseniks alongside
• A halt to the present highway constructing mania.

This acceleration would occur as a result of we would wish to navigate by way of three phases of change;

1. On H-Day (‘H’ in Sweden stood for Högertrafikomläggningen,or the Right-Hand Traffic Diversion) each highway signal, each painted line, each piece of the roading infrastructure must be swapped round and in that swap round course of that’s after we obtain highway house reallocation, pace restrict discount, and hazard therapy. Also within the planning course of we might draw on the expertise of our present crop of roading engineers holding them from planning yet one more motorway.
2. Immediately after H-Day roads will likely be inherently unsafe till all our brains have been re-wired to assume “right-big, left-small” and many individuals will need to keep away from driving. We can assist get folks out of their automobiles and scale back that danger by rising funding in public transport, regional rail and rail freight forward of H-day so there are fewer autos on the highway.
3. The H-Day transition won’t be absolutely full till all of the LHD autos are off our roads. This change will begin as soon as the H-Day date is about and proceed for some years after. It will enable those that would in any other case resist shopping for an electrical automobile to get one as a result of it’s RHD.

The flood of the New Zealand roadscape with low-cost second hand Japanese imports because the late Eighties has run its course. It has enabled us all to purchase many extra of a wider vary of safer autos than if we had caught with CKD meeting or ‘only new’ imports. BUT the Japanese producers have locked themselves into an ICE, Hybrid and Hydrogen future which isn’t the place New Zealand should go. We have oodles of low-cost renewable electrical energy which makes EVs the right reply.

So, simply as we gave up on the hoary previous Morris 1100’s, Ford Escorts and Vauxhall Chevettes by slicing the British umbilical within the Eighties, it’s time to shift our supply of provide once more to look to the right-hand drive world.

Call this the Gretzky plan in case you like.

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