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Comment by Lariscus | Hacker News Reader

It seems that the number of accidents actually dropped for a while after the switch in Sweden but it increased again after people got used to the change. [1]

[1] https://realscandinavia.com/this-day-in-history-swedish-traf...

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They put it down to people driving very cautiously to begin with

Then maybe the take-home message is that countries should switch driving sides every few years just to keep drivers on their toes.

How would the cities handle this?

If it was something they planned for, would signs be reversible, and traffic lights visible from both sides?

Or would they pay people to slowly roll out the reversal, so that which side you should drive on was rather inconsistent?

> How would the cities handle this?

Popular argument might be for the driving direction to be local to the orientation of the sun for the majority of commuters to be able to use canopy to prevent glare. For example, north to south flow in morning (NYC) would be LHD & reverse in afternoon.

After the first few years it would be come too standard.

We'd have to up the ante each time.

How about left side until mid day and right side until midnight.

Year after you have to drive backwards.

Roads will be so safe.

Which, in hindsight, makes perfect sense. Making drivers feel unsafe is a core component of modern traffic calming.

Yes, speed bumps and busses running over the flexible bollards to drive head on at me make me nervous.

Mostly chicanes, narrowing, blind corners, and narrow roads with visibility limitations (e.g. shrubbery).

Wide open roads make people speed up, even unconsciously.

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