On September 3, 1967, Sweden changed from left-hand to right-hand driving. The history of legislation on left-hand and right-hand driving is reviewed. The social aspect was emphasized by a study of accidents involving Swedish vehicles abroad and those involving foreign vehicles in Sweden. Both types of accidents were increasing faster than the number of vehicles crossing the frontier. It was assumed that this disproportionate increase was due to the difference in traffic rules. The benefits were felt to be great enough to justify the change-over. The cost of the change was borne mostly by the government. The question of timing for training in right-hand driving was given study. On the basis of experimentation, training prior to change -over could cause more harm than good. It was determined that a driver who changed his environment at the time of the change-over made fewer errors than a driver who remained in the same environment. But when the first driver returned to his familiar environment, he made more errors than the one who had remained in the same area. It was concluded, not to recommend a change of environment after the dates of the change-over. Traffic studies showed that outside rearview mirrors were of aid in detecting overtaking vehicles. The problem of training pedestrians to look first to the left before stepping off the curb was studied. The sub change- over was more difficult because all buses had doors on the left side and were designed throughout for left-hand traffic. Traffic signals were revised and highway signs were replaced or newly installed. In Stockholm, the change-over was accompanied by the development of a revised traffic circulation plan to improve the traffic capacity of the street system. The number of one-way streets was increased, many complicated intersections were rebuilt, and street cars were abandoned. New parking regulations, which prohibit daytime parking in virtually all the downtown sections, were placed in effect. New regulations require pedestrians to obey traffic signals and use pedestrian crossings. Drivers have been required to yield to pedestrians crossing on a green light. The basic right-of-way rule was revised so that the drivers must now yield to the vehicle on the right. Speed limits were temporarily reduced and regulations prohibited the crossing of a solid line to the right of a broken centerline. Accident experience in the first two months show that fatal accidents are much below the average rate, and total accidents have occurred at a rate about average.
Abstract