8 Sep 2010

Samoa hails success of road switch a year ago

3:04 pm on 8 September 2010

One year ago today, Samoa switched to driving on the left hand side of the road.

The Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, has said the government's objectives in initiating the change have now been achieved

These include the ability of the average person to afford a motor vehicle and the ease with which people in New Zealand and Australia are able to send cars to their relatives in Samoa.

Our correspondent in Apia, Autagavaia Tipi Autagavaia, says the change has not caused the accidents predicted by opponents:

"Even though we had car accidents and we had deaths in that year up until now, but most of those car accidents were not caused by the switch, but were caused by the carelessness of of drivers on the road."

Our correspondent in Apia, Autagavaia Tipi Autagavaia.