Posted on February 11, 2008 by Fiona Hilliard

Ireland should consider switching to driving on the right hand side to reduce accidents by foreigners unaccustomed to driving on the left, a senior Irish politician has suggested.

Donie Cassidy, leader of Ireland’s Senate mentioned Sweden-which moved to the right in 1967 as an example of a country that changed from left to right decades after most of Europe did.

“We have all of these people coming in from Europe and from America and (because of) the roads that they are used to driving on in their own countries it is a huge difficulty when they start driving here,” said Mr Cassidy.
“I know when I go to America it takes me five or six days to adjust.”
However, Irish motoring body the AA has described the idea as “completely impractical.”
Mr Cassidy also suggested that people from countries used to driving on the right should observe a 80km per hour(50mph) speed limit, compared with speeds of up to 120km (75 mph) permitted for Irish drivers.
Apart from Ireland, many former British colonies such as India and Australia keep to the left, as does Japan.