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.”
‘CROSSING THE LINE’: China’s embassy in Seoul criticized US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson, asking if his ‘hostile’ remarks were authorized by Washington South Korea and the US are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say that he had “truly crossed the line.” The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington might seek to expand the role of US Forces Korea in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key
SEEKING ORDER: Rodrigo Paz said that ‘anyone who wants to destroy the nation will have to deal with this president and the full force of the constitution’ Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz on Wednesday said that the nation was at a “breaking point” after nearly a month of protests that have caused shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Paz, who took office six months ago amid the worst economic crisis there in four decades, is battling a groundswell of fury over his policies. The political capital, La Paz, has been besieged by low-income workers and members of the indigenous majority calling for his resignation. “The country needs order and is reaching breaking point,” the 58-year-old said at a public event in La Paz, renewing his appeal for dialogue. On Tuesday, the Bolivian
Forecasters in Europe yesterday warned of exceptional heat as record temperatures driven by a “heat dome” push temperatures well above seasonal norms across the continent. The surge follows a record-breaking Monday, with France logging its hottest day in the month of May on record, its weather agency said, and the UK also posting unprecedented highs. A so-called “heat dome” of warm air from northern Africa trapped under a high-pressure system over western Europe is behind the high temperatures not usually seen until high summer. Restrictions on outdoor work were imposed in parts of Italy, beaches in southwest France filled earlier than usual and
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the 1990s shooter game Doom and said they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing. It is the science-fiction work of biotech boffins at Cortical Labs, who researched and developed the technology that harnesses the workings of the brain’s networking system. Each so-called “biological computer” contains about 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations. Having mastered the simple computer game Pong, where a paddle is moved up and down to send a ball
RSS