by By Robert Mackey
Early on Tuesday, the nation of Samoa officially defected from right to left, leaving the fraternity of nations that drive their cars of the right side of the street to the (now) growing club of leftists.
The change — which was made for economic reasons, to bring the country in line with its neighbors in New Zealand and Australia and so make it easier to import small, fuel-efficient used cars from those countries — was marked by a two-day national holiday and a three-day ban on alcohol sales.
As an editorial in The Samoa Observer noted:
At 6 a.m. local time, the BBC reports , Samoan Prime Minister Tuila’epa Sailele Lupesoliai Malielegaoi made the switch official with these words: “After this announcement you will all be permitted to move to the other side of the road, to begin this new era in our history.”
It has been four decades since a country switched from driving on one side of the road to the other, and the previous trend had been markedly in the opposite direction. As an article from Time magazine’s archive noted, when — after “a brief but monumental traffic jam” — Sweden switched to driving on the right side of the road in 1967, the move was part of a standardization across continental Europe. That switch was resisted by drivers on the British Isles, and in many former parts of the British empire, including India, Pakistan and parts of Africa, left remains right.
Just last year, however, Reuters reported that an Irish politician, concerned about running head-on into immigrant drivers from Eastern Europe, had proposed that “Ireland should consider giving up driving on the left to reduce accidents by foreigners accustomed to right-side motoring.” That proposal was made in February 2008, before a rapid economic slowdown stopped the flow of European workers to Ireland and made it unlikely that the cash-strapped Irish government would want to take on a massive project that would also have introduced chaos at the now barely perceptible line where Ireland and Northern Ireland meet.
...Go to: www.CHEAPESTCARINSURANCEIRELAN D.com Car insurance in Ireland is still pretty expensive, but this video has 7 quick, simple tips to reduce ...
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Tackle lawyers feeding off the whiplash era Daily Mail - Jan 01, 1970
table border=0 cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7 style=vertical-align:top;trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=tamp;fd=Ramp;usg=AFQjCNHtlrdfi5Fm6rjL0Os2GOufGcFPXwamp;url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2096536/Tackle-lawyers-feeding-whiplash-era.html?ito%3Dfeeds-newsxmlimg src=//nt0.ggpht.com/news/tbn/jPwzPJ_IJyIHqM/6.jpg alt= border=1 width=80 height=80 /br /font size=-2Daily Mail/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbr /div style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1 //divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=tamp;fd=Ramp;usg=AFQjCNHtlrdfi5Fm6rjL0Os2GOufGcFPXwamp;url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2096536/Tackle-lawyers-feeding-whiplash-era.html?ito%3Dfeeds-newsxmlbTackle lawyers feeding off the #39;whiplash#39; era/b/abr /font size=-1bfont color=#6f6f6fDaily Mail/font/b/fontbr /font size=-1The current crisis in bcar insurance/b is a painful example of this. Feeding off the disastrous decision to permit no-win, no-fee lawsuits, unscrupulous lawyers have made an industry out of dubious injury claims. The insurance companies have feebly played b/b/fontbr /font size=-1 class=p/fontbr /font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=d2a9hZ5dJRx9oHMamp;ned=usnobrband morenbsp;raquo;/b/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table
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High price for NI car insurance U.TV - Jan 01, 1970
table border=0 cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7 style=vertical-align:top;trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serif/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbr /div style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1 //divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=tamp;fd=Ramp;usg=AFQjCNFE0hNmmFMUOnCqhcnwqSBsvdXS0Qamp;url=http://www.u.tv/News/High-price-for-NI-car-insurance/0cdbcb57-58d8-41de-89b7-ac7d9b1308e3bHigh price for NI bcar insurance/b/b/abr /font size=-1bfont color=#6f6f6fU.TV/font/b/fontbr /font size=-1High legal fees, bad driving, a lack of competition in the binsurance/b market and bNorthern Ireland#39;s/b claim culture are all to blame for the high cost of vehicle premiums in the region. We#39;re sorry. This video is unavailable from your location./fontbr /font size=-1 class=p/fontbr /font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=dInIoOB-80EXFMMamp;ned=usnobrband morenbsp;raquo;/b/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table
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Black box devices for new drivers RAC - Jan 01, 1970
table border=0 cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7 style=vertical-align:top;trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=tamp;fd=Ramp;usg=AFQjCNFEMwPAuE_zXtZLjVyGnRfRKj2gpAamp;url=http://www.rac.co.uk/news-advice/motoring-news/post/2012/1/black-box-devices-for-new-drivers/img src=//nt0.ggpht.com/news/tbn/lGClNo-kQ439_M/6.jpg alt= border=1 width=80 height=80 /br /font size=-2RAC/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbr /div style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1 //divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=tamp;fd=Ramp;usg=AFQjCNFEMwPAuE_zXtZLjVyGnRfRKj2gpAamp;url=http://www.rac.co.uk/news-advice/motoring-news/post/2012/1/black-box-devices-for-new-drivers/b#39;Black box devices#39; for new drivers/b/abr /font size=-1bfont color=#6f6f6fRAC/font/b/fontbr /font size=-1It is hoped that the black box option, and others too, will go some way towards tackling rising bcar insurance/b premiums. In bNorthern Ireland/b, premiums are 11% higher than in Great Britain. In rural areas, the difference can be up to 70%./fontbr /font size=-1 class=p/fontbr /font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=dlHie6en_MzfQ2Mamp;ned=usnobrband morenbsp;raquo;/b/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table
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Black box bid to cut premiums The Press Association - Jan 01, 1970
table border=0 cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7 style=vertical-align:top;trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serif/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbr /div style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1 //divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=tamp;fd=Ramp;usg=AFQjCNFhA7xj6qRtE4DMKRetVOQKR0G2Lwamp;url=http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5gZpumfaV5QGXnYI8F3E9zC7FlI0g?docId%3DN0137491327537574339Ab#39;Black box#39; bid to cut premiums/b/abr /font size=-1bfont color=#6f6f6fThe Press Association/font/b/fontbr /font size=-1Aircraft-style black boxes could be installed in new drivers#39; bcars/b to help cut binsurance/b premiums and reduce accidents in bNorthern Ireland/b, the DoE has claimed. DoE minister Alex Attwood is meeting insurers, and use of the technology, which monitors b/b/fontbr /font size=-1 class=p/fontbr /font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=dqermozvL-zmPOMamp;ned=usnobrband morenbsp;raquo;/b/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table
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The ten most ridiculous airport and flight charges Yahoo! Travel UK Yahoo! omg! UK - Jan 01, 1970
table border=0 cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7 style=vertical-align:top;trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=tamp;fd=Ramp;usg=AFQjCNGF5apo5PElcM29HT8OwLy9O0ns2wamp;url=http://uk.travel.yahoo.com/p-promo-3362097img src=//nt0.ggpht.com/news/tbn/uI2QQxVhj7OynM/6.jpg alt= border=1 width=80 height=80 /br /font size=-2Yahoo! omg! UK/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbr /div style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1 //divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=tamp;fd=Ramp;usg=AFQjCNGF5apo5PElcM29HT8OwLy9O0ns2wamp;url=http://uk.travel.yahoo.com/p-promo-3362097bThe ten most ridiculous airport and flight charges - Yahoo! Travel UK/b/abr /font size=-1bfont color=#6f6f6fYahoo! omg! UK/font/b/fontbr /font size=-1Since the smoking ban was introduced to bNorthern Ireland/b in 2007 smokers flying from Belfast International Airport cannot light up just anywhere they like. Rather than using the designated outside smoking areas or inside terminals, smokers are charged b/b/fontbr /font size=-1 class=p/fontbr /font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=doNzUnbjseQm1JMamp;ned=usnobrband morenbsp;raquo;/b/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table
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