Samoa drives on the left

Today, Western Samoa changed from driving on the right hand side of the road to the left hand side, just like New Zealand.

American Samoa will continue to drive on the right hand side just like the USA. However, all the other Pacific Islands drive on the left.

Western Samoa is a small country in the Pacific Ocean. The population is less than 200,000. Before 1967, it was governed by New Zealand but now it is independent.

Many Samoans live in New Zealand or Australia and send money back home. Now these people will be able to send used cars to their families in Samoa. Samoans will also be able to buy new cars from Japan instead of from USA.

Most cars in Samoa have the steering wheel on the left. Only about one fifth have the steering wheel on the right. One big problem is for buses which have their door on the right. They have to change the door because it is too dangerous for people to get off the bus in the middle of the road.

Many Samoans are unhappy about this change. The government has made September 7th and 8th a public holiday to give people time to get used to the change.

One third of the world drives on the right. NZ, Australia, Japan and the UK drive on the left. The last time any country changed was in 1970 when Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Ghana changed to driving on the right.