TWL #10: The Day Sweden Switched Driving Directions | Wendover Productions

0:00Hello, I'm Sam, this is my channel, this is that Wikipedia list and this is that Wikipedia list September 3rd, 1967 Sweden decides to switch from left to right Swedish motorists accustomed to left side of the road driving Join the growing trend throughout Europe across over to right side traffic flow That was a crazy day for Sweden prior to 1967 Sweden, much like many other European countries drove on the left most countries in the world in fact began driving on the left Because that's how carriages did it and carriages did it that way because that's how horses did it The rules started in the first place because back in the old days most would brand us their sword on their right side So in writing they wanted to be able to respond to an oncoming attacker on the right side Archaeological evidence proves that left side riding was the norm throughout much of the ancient world The shift to right side riding came when freight wagons got larger as trade became more common demand grew So teamsters the old term for wagon drivers started adding more and more horses to pull heavier and heavier loads

1:03There weren't seats on these wagons so teamsters just sat on a horse Most chose to sit on the back left horse so they could whip with their right hand since the vast majority of people Especially at the time were right hand dominant Therefore the teamsters chose to ride on the right side of the road so that oncoming wagons could pass on their left And they could clearly see that their wheels were clear Fast forward 200 years and 65% of the world's population drives on the right side of the road Which as it turns out is the worst side to drive on you see humans are naturally right side dominant as we know The vast majority of the world's population is right handed about 90% But the vast majority of the world is also right eye dominant Humans actually do have an eye that works better than the other For about 70% of the world's population that's the right eye While driving on the left the right eye will focus on oncoming traffic While the left will see what's passing by this may contribute to the slightly lower accident rate in left side driving countries Anyways, let's get back to Dagon H the name for the day Sweden switched

2:06In 1955 Sweden held a referendum on the issue of driving directionality And a staggering 83% voted against changing the direction The national legislator known as the Rick Stagg promptly responded by deciding to make the change The rationale was that every single one of Sweden's neighbors drove on the right and most imported cars Which were the cheapest cars were designed to be driven on the right In the month leading up to Dagon H every intersection was outfitted with an extra set of signals and signs wrapped in black plastic 8,000 buses were retrofitted with new doors on the right side and the rest were sold to Pakistan and Kenya New lines were painted on the roads then covered in black tape milk cartons and underwear with the days of logo were sold in stores around the country Contests were held for songs about the change then finally on September 3rd 1967 at 3 p.m The lost switch and the entire country had won enormous traffic jam as drivers slowly and across the white line to get to the new normal No one died that day on Swedish roads in fact nobody died the day after as well

3:10There were only 125 collisions compared to the average of 164 it seemed that the switch worked However by 1969 collision rates were back to normal It turned out that the roads were only safer because drivers were more cautious as they learned the new traffic patterns I'll end with an only somewhat related but interesting tidbit The Geneva conventions have a treaty that outlines international rules of the road Including the rule that traffic directionality must be uniform throughout the same country The vast majority of countries follow this rule with no problem However the good old us of a hold the territory of the us Virgin islands where all drivers drive on the left And therefore the us is technically in violation of the Geneva conventions Which as the no longer existing country of Yugoslavia knows is kind of a big deal Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this video make sure to click subscribe to catch more episodes of that Wikipedia list and other videos You can also follow me on twitter at when to repro Additionally you can check out my last video on the secret symbol that stops you from copying money here

4:11Or watch an old video of mine on space law here Lastly, I think it's worth mentioning that I've been putting out videos far less frequently recently I work seasonally in outdoor recreation and summer is a really big time for that So I just don't have as much video making time When to mid-August rolls along I'll be back to releasing videos almost every week