Samoa is suffering a case of national road rage over government plans to switch to driving on the left.
Since the government announced the plan in 2007, huge protest marches have been held, more than a sixth of the population has signed a petition calling for the changeover to be reversed, and a court is expected to rule on its legality later this week.
Bus owners are furious over having to build new doors on the opposite side of their vehicles so passengers don’t have to get off in the middle of the road.
At least one village is threatening to stop traffic passing through after the changeover.
But Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi has no intention of backing down from the switch on Sept. 7.
“The switch in the side of the road for driving is a policy for the development and improvement of life for all the people of Samoa,” he said earlier this month.
Tuilaepa says changing sides to be in line with Australia and New Zealand means some of the 170,000 Samoans living in those countries — which drive on the left — will be able to send used right-hand drive cars home to their relatives.
Cars would become cheaper in Samoa as a result and more people in rural areas would be able to get vehicles to help develop their land, he argues.
But opponents, including the protest group People Against Switching Sides (PASS), accuse the prime minister of bulldozing the changeover through without a thorough study of its impact.
Among the strongest opponents are bus owners and hire car firms, which will be stuck with fleets of left-hand drive vehicles no one wants to hire or buy.
Le Anapapa Laki says he faces a bill equivalent to US$18,500 for each of his 14 buses to switch the doors to the other side.
“My business has been handed down from our grandfather to our father and then to us,” he said. “Now I cannot continue if the switch takes place.”
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