Day H: the day Sweden switched to driving on the right – archive, 1967 | Sweden
Stops the way to the right way
September 4, 1967
Stockholm
Cheering crowds stopped traffic here today as Sweden switched to right-hand drive after four years of preparation, 40 years of argument, and at a total cost estimated at double the official figure of £40m.
All traffic had to stop for 10 minutes at 4.50 this morning on all of Sweden’s 60,000 miles of roads, but on Kungsgatan, Stockholm’s Oxford Street, the wait was much longer for impatient Swedish drivers who wanted to try their luck on the right.
Blocked
Although the city center had been closed off for almost 24 hours to all but taxis, buses and cars with special permits, gridlock developed as tourists, cyclists and television cameramen flooded the roadway.
The police watched intently as long queues of traffic – headlamps glaring, horns blaring – tried in vain to switch sides in approved fashion, becoming hopelessly entangled in the process.
With military helicopters buzzing overhead, order was eventually restored and “Right day”, “Right Day”, as the Swedes reverently call it, returned to the clockwork efficiency that characterized planning. Around 2,000 soldiers, 6,000 civil police, 50,000 school police and 150,000 volunteers were on duty across Sweden, while an army of construction workers had been working through the night to make the final changes to 350,000 street signs.
The last detail
Although there were occasional stops and a number of minor accidents, the Swedish reputation for accuracy could hardly have been better. Typical of the meticulous attention to detail was that even the moose hunting season had been brought forward a week so that the hunters would not increase the traffic problem.
To prevent accidents from absence after the change, an intensive advertising campaign has been carried out by the government in addition to the introduction of strict speed limits. These range from 40 km/h (25 mph) in urban areas to 90 km/h (58 mph) on motorways. Drivers have been advised to keep their headlights on day and night until tomorrow.
The testing period, police say, will likely be in about three weeks when drivers start to relax and forget. The attitude here to the change seems strangely ambivalent. Many drivers say they’re grateful it’s finally over, but they’re critical of the cost of the surgery.
Criticism is no doubt all the sharper because of the proposed 50 per cent increase in vehicle tax next year, which is widely regarded as the result of “Right-wing”. And just over 10 years ago in a national referendum, 83 percent voted against the change. When the bill was finally passed in Parliament in 1963 after an agreement between the two major political parties, the cost was estimated to be SEK 400 million (£28 million) to be raised through a special vehicle tax of £2 13 for small cars and £5 for large cars, buses and trucks.
Cost of £80 million
In 1965 the official estimate was revived to SEK 600 million (£42 million) and it is now believed that the final cost to the government is likely to exceed SEK 800 million (£60 million) with an indirect cost of at least SEK 200 million, giving a total 80 million pounds.
The success (or not) of the transition to the right-wing operation is seen as a test of the political future of communications minister Olof Palme, who has been widely tipped as a future prime minister if the Social Democrats remain in power after next year’s parliamentary election.
Sweden’s turn leaves just four European countries (excluding Gibraltar) still committed to driving on the left. Iceland is now planning to change its mind next year.
Although the British Road Federation, the Ministry of Transport, the AA and the RAC all had observers in Stockholm, there is as yet no enthusiasm from anyone for a similar move in the UK.
The cost would be astronomical – £350 million was the latest estimate – but more importantly, the reasons that led Sweden to align with its neighbors do not apply. Ninety percent of our cars are not left-hand drive and the number of foreign and British cars coming in and out is still relatively small.
Until the Channel Tunnel is built and until we enter the single market, the idea of a change is almost certainly a non-starter. Even then, our insularity in all respects could delay the move for at least a generation. But by the year 2000, even the Swedes believe that we will have followed suit.