People of Sweden Fear Switching to Right Hand Drive - "Dagen H" Report (1967)
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- Опубліковано 28 лис 2024
- On 17 May 1967, ITN's Sandy Gall reported from the Swedish capital of Stockholm, as the country prepared to switch to driving on the right side of the road. The chosen date for the change, 3 September 1967, soon became known as Dagen H ("H Day"), a reference to "Högertrafik", the Swedish term for right-hand traffic. Gall interviewed Minister of Communications (and future prime minister) Olof Palme, members of the Swedish Automobile Assocation, and road users about the scheduled change.
#Sweden #HDay #DagenH #Högertrafik #Stockholm #Driving #RightHandDrive #1960s #1967 #OlofPalme #Swedish
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Note that Swedish cars even before the switch had the steering wheel on the left side. That was rare for left-hand traffic. It resulted in the driver being more protected, but overtaking being quite dangerous.
The driver was 'more protected' only from 'dangers' from the right-hand side.
The passenger - who had NO control over the vehicle - was placed in greater danger.
@@trueaussie9230 Correct. That was a very bad system.
Långt före övergången i september 1967 insisterade biltillverkare i Sverige såväl som deras handlare och distributörer på att placera föraren så nära vägkanten som möjligt var “bättre” jämfört med den allmänna konsensus om att placera föraren så nära centrum som möjligt av vägen.
Deras motivering var att det var lättare för bilförare att tillgodose passagerarnas behov.
Det egentliga skälet var dock att den internationella marknaden - än mindre den svenska (inhemska) marknaden - för högerstyrda bilar var så ringa (d.v.s. ekonomiskt olönsam att masstillverka lika mycket) jämfört med de vänsterstyrda.
There is one other place that has this as well. The virgin islands. The British Virgin islands drive on the left with left hand drive cars and the American Virgin islands also do the same. Strangely, Gibraltar, being a British territory, drive on the right with left hand drive.
@@100tallpaul
"American Virgin Islands drive on the left in left-hand drive vehicles"?!
Why?!
That's just ridiculous.
Do American service personnel not take their own cars there?
They take them everywhere else.
A wonderful bit of film and everyone spoke perfect English.
Everybody was Swedish, too.
is a film you know? Staged for BBC as it is 😁
@@paulparomaJust like now. That’s kind of how nationalities work.
@@antiantiderivative Not really, but have it your way.
@@paulparomayou dont have a vote beqourseu its already demands by the elite
I'm amazed by the vocabulary and proper pronunciation from many of the people in this clip. This is 1967 after all.
Most Swedes by this point were taught English in schools.
I myself started learning learning English in school when I was in 3rd grade (~9 y.o.)
We probably also only see the people that could speak English.
They have better english than northern english brexit lads
Att 瑞典 erkänner & hjälper 河內-regimen under det andra Indokinakriget är bland annat hur underbart 瑞典 har varit med att göra sig dum i utrikespolitiken.
Neutralt land min röv.
Långt före övergången i september 1967 insisterade biltillverkare i Sverige såväl som deras handlare och distributörer på att placera föraren så nära vägkanten som möjligt var “bättre” jämfört med den allmänna konsensus om att placera föraren så nära centrum som möjligt av vägen.
Deras motivering var att det var lättare för bilförare att tillgodose passagerarnas behov.
Det egentliga skälet var dock att den internationella marknaden - än mindre den svenska (inhemska) marknaden - för högerstyrda bilar var så ringa (d.v.s. ekonomiskt olönsam att masstillverka lika mycket) jämfört med de vänsterstyrda.
The interviewed Minister of Communications, Mr. Olof Palme later became prime minister of Sweden but was sadly murdered in 1986.
Sweden is reaping what they’ve sown under his rule and his actions. What he did to the Afrikaner people is being relayed in kind.
@@benvad9010 lmao
@@benvad9010Afrikaners are always victims in their own head
@@benvad9010 lmfao
@@benvad9010 how can anyone justify someone being murdered.
For a Swede (who was just one year old when this took place) it's very interesting to watch this. The taxi driver feared that there would be an increase of the number of accidents, but it actually turned out to be the other way around. It might have had to do with the obvious fact that everyone drove more carefully the first few months, but another important factor was that most Swedish cars had their steering wheel on the left, so the cars were better adapted to driving on the right than on the left side.
Långt före övergången i september 1967 insisterade biltillverkare i Sverige såväl som deras handlare och distributörer på att placera föraren så nära vägkanten som möjligt var “bättre” jämfört med den allmänna konsensus om att placera föraren så nära centrum som möjligt av vägen.
Deras motivering var att det var lättare för bilförare att tillgodose passagerarnas behov.
Det egentliga skälet var dock att den internationella marknaden - än mindre den svenska (inhemska) marknaden - för högerstyrda bilar var så ringa (d.v.s. ekonomiskt olönsam att masstillverka lika mycket) jämfört med de vänsterstyrda.
Propagandan i bet you like the green cars better then the pink cars in the candy cars box
They did not switch to Right Hand Drive they switched to driving on the right. The two things are completely different. Right Hand Drive, RHD is the term used for a car where the driving position is on the right of the car and is usually found where people drive on the left.
This is very true. They had left hand drive vehicles before and after mostly.
Yeah that left hand drive training kit made no sense. Swedish drivers were already used to left hand drive cars so the issue the driver describes from his travel to the UK was never going to be an issue in Sweden.
Yet amazingly there were fewer accidents than anticipated, drivers seemed to adapt quicker than they realised.
1967 had almost 300 less traffic deaths compared to both 1965 & 1966 which still hold the record for most road fatalities in Swedish history (both having 1313 deaths)
@@VirreFribergAutomotive and road safety was awful pretty much up until the 90s, a major accident had to be a near guaranteed fatality in those days
@@YBM2007 Not when you were driving a Volvo with such innovations as seatbelts.
@@flitsertheo SAAB and Volvo were not exempt from these stats either, despite being a little more advanced in terms of safety
Ä
Czechoslovakia switched in 1939 - in very nuch different circumstances…
As did Austria around the same time
Because Austria-Hungary drove on the left side throughout history.
Sweden made a huge success of this.
How
No trams was withdrawn from Göteborg! On the contrary, the tram traffic was increased.
00:58 no way those pedestrians could see the camera... They must have wondered why the hell this englishman was standing by the railing talking calmly out in the air by himself
As a swede, i find it interesting that people tried to speak British English back in 67 and nowadays most people try to speak American English. Obviously we have an accent , but you can clearly hear that Olof Palme tries to speak British English.
ITN Archive, This is so fun! I'm happy I found your channel!
The most im impressed by this whole video is the Swedish people speaking so good English, for being in 1967.
Nice clip of an interesting historical subject. Thanks for that! I did put a thumb up and subscribed your channel as well! That wasn't noted on the clip, but we had increasing number of swedes coming to visit here to Finland months prior to the H-day to practise driving on the right side of the road.
Högertrafikgeneralen hette Lars Sköld (inte Scheld). "Mr Ahlgren" är Nils Ahlgren, VD för M (Motormännen).
Parts of Canada also had to make a switch from driving on the left to driving on tge right. However, this was done mainly in the 1920's, when fewer people owned cars (except Newfoundland which didn't switch until 1947).
What they did not mention is a day or two before the switch, alcohol sales were stopped.
Iceland switched from left to right. Cyprus and Malta still drive on the left.
Couldn't Volvo and Saab build right hand drive cars for the Swedish domestic market, or did they foresee H day and decide not to?
After this, switching what side of the road was from right to left. Okinawa switched from right to left in 1978 and Western Samoa some years ago.
They didn't.
@@northernblue1093Iceland did.
Speaking from experience, drivers in Cyprus drive on whichever side of the road that takes their fancy!
Both Volvo and SAAB exported RHD cars to the U.K., but I think people were so used to LHD cars that they didn't want to change. LHD cars had some advantage at snowy conditions when it was difficult to feel where the road went over to the ditch.
@@northernblue1093 Iceland switched from left to right in 1968.
Even people overseas spoke in received pronunciation back in those days. 😂
As was said in the interview, should England swap sides from left to right and the Swedish gentleman said England should change, that wouldn't work because the neighbouring countries to England will still drive on the left, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Rep Ireland Isle of Man, Gurnsey and Jersey
Back then when people outside the UK talked about the UK they always said England. It was incorrect, but that was just accepted.
@@knowledgeisgood9645 Yeh I know, just joking
@@knowledgeisgood9645 The Scottish and Irish would keep driving on the other side just to annoy the English.
@@flitsertheo Then why not annoy them now and drive on the right? 😂
@@knowledgeisgood9645wouldn’t annoy us. Would just annoy yourselves
Wow, real Swedish people. Haven't seen any since Rodox videos
I actually remember hearing all about this big event in Sweden on American television when I was a child on, of all places, the very popular children's program Captain Kangaroo!!!
Right hand drive is not right hand running. They were switching to right hand running. Interestingly (and unlike other left hand running countries) Sweden had left hand drive even when they had left hand running.
For clarification:
'Right hand drive' refers to the vehicle configuration, not the driving orientation.
'Right hand drive' countries drive on the LEFT HAND side of the road.
'Left hand drive' countries drive on the RIGHT HAND side of the road.
Sweden was changing to 'left hand drive' orientation.
Except their cars were mismatched, "left hand drive" while -also- driving on the left.
@@txquartz
How does that qualify as an 'EXCEPTION' to the definitions?! 🤔
@@trueaussie9230: AMELIORATE YOUR (OWN) LINGUISTIC ACUMEN AS WELL AS WELTANSCHAUUNG, YOU HYPOCRITICAL & RACIST IMBECILE!
@@trueaussie9230: I find it extraordinary you possess the shameless hypocrisy & temerity to tell others off considering your pugnacity & (functional) illiteracy.
Well it made sense because the cars had steering on the left. Overtaking when you can't really see oncoming traffic like it was before 1968 was much more dangerous. Sweden is sparsely populates so 4 lane roads are between bigger towns only.
But why did the cars have steering on the left? It says because most were imported so then was this the same in the other left driving countries?
I think because there was such an open market between Sweden and neighbouring countries that manufacturers wouldn't want to bother making a separate version just for Sweden.
In Ireland we drive in the middle of the road along the dotted line. Much safer and friendlier for cyclists. If they ever switch us to the 'other' side, it won't make any difference, except that my favourite pubs are all on the left side.
It's very interesting to see this, and how it fits into my history.
I was on holiday in Sweden in summer 1967, and there were lots of signs being prepared for use in September.
The English that was taught was always British English, American English was seen as inferior... at that time!
Even today, Swedes can still confuse England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom.
Nobody seemed to mention that Ireland drives on the left too - but Ireland was unknown to Swedes at that point.
As it turned out, the number of accidents went down after Dagen H, not up. Shame Britain didn't follow suit - 6 pounds per head would have paid for itself by being part of a much larger LHD car market.
Not quite, the cars in sweeden were already right hand drove so the conversion wasn't as difficult.
LHD on RHD roads doesn't work quite well.
My country drive on the left like a few country in the world that drive in this position. I think I feel more comfortable to drive left hand side car on left position, not like drive right hand side on right position which is feel so oddly uncomfortable.
Finally,I will be able to drive 🚗 9:59 well in Sweden 🇸🇪 👏 😀 👍 👌 🙌
I remember when the change happened. It was a chaos for a few days. Iceland switched as well at some point. They drive on the right hand side of the road like everyone else today.
Fascinating to see a time when British English, and especially RP, was the standard export version of English across Europe. Olof Palme is speaking with almost perfect RP; I suspect today, his contemporary equivalent would be speaking like our transatlantic cousins. In many cases, a rather less pleasurable accent.
I'm Swedish and I try my best at speaking in RP when I need to speak English. I'm not saying I'm any good at it but there are way too many Swede's sounding like Americans. I much prefer British English and I don't see the logic in sounding American. We are much closer neighbors with the inventors of the English language than we are to the US.
Another aspect which can be an explanation for Swede's sounding American is that a US accent is much more easy to learn (at least for us). But where's the fun in that...?
I would say, also as a native Swede, that it seems like people back then, at least in this news strip, were quite poor in speaking English, compared to how proficient Swedish people are today.
If RP was the gold standard, people would probably have continued to mimic that still, but as seemingly the standard in UK these days is London or cockney accent, the North American accent is much easier to understand, in comparison.
Further, Sweden has much more in common with the US than with the UK nowadays.
I think speaking RP would come across as a bit pretentious today, but at least the average Swede knows more words and better grammar today than back then. Obviously the individuals in the video express themselves well, I just think English is more acessible and relevant to the average Swede today.
Hur har Sverige mer gemensamt med USA? @@oniondeluxe9942
Bet they regretted getting rid of their trams, first fuel crisis followed only 6 years later in 1973.
Actually, Gothenburg still has their trams. They just had to be replaced since all the doors now faced the wrong way.
1967: Should the UK follow suit and switch to right-hand traffic?
2024: The UK still uses the imperial system/miles on the roads.
Dead right. Is apart of UK culture
So was tubercolosis and bad teeth, but times change.@@victorocallaghan6791
When I was on a coach tour of Scotland our bus diver stated that the United Kingdom would be swiyching driving sides in stages. On April first coaches and lorries would change and on the 15th, cars and motorcycles.
The Republic of lreland changed from miles to KM..went metric but still drive on the left
@@martingrefen7792 That is the point. It's much easier to change from miles to kilometres, and the UK didn't even manage that.
While James Callaghan (born in UK 1912-2005) was teaching about zebra crossings (or whatever it was) during 1940s, later became pm in 1976
And I thought decimalisation was a big change…
Countries that did these difficult things (changing driving directions, metric, etc, even things like reforming medical systems) back when they were much easier to due have been reaping the rewards ever since. These things are impossible to do now as the expenses have gone way up with the increased infrastructure to change
Not necessarily. For example, we have digital instrument clusters now so there's 0 cost in switching cars between MPH and km/h. The big change in LHD/RHD will be when cars go to steer-by-wire, which one car already has (Infiniti Q60). At that point it will be possible to engineer a RHD car that can be inexpensively converted to LHD which creates a paradox: the extra engineering and production cost of RHD will decrease so that a reason to switch is removed, or it will spur a switch, as cars can be easily converted.
Maybe financially unviable but not impossible and stuff is only financially unviable to a Government because the greedy peanuts want all the money for themselves
Nothing is 'financially unviable' if the long-term benefits outweigh the immediate costs.
When viewed only in 'short-term' values/ROI, even small changes are 'financially unviable'.
Eg - no public transport system would ever be updated/expanded if ROI was viewed only in the 'short term'.
Sweden seemed so civilized back then
I wonder why 🤔
inga kulturberikare på den tiden
@@bukt Racists can fit racism anywhere...
Miljöpartiet did not exist back then...
@@anthonyrowland9072the middle eastern immigrants can go to rich Gulf Arab countries
In the Philippines, the driving side was changed from the left to the right because after the liberation of Manila, President Sergio Osmeña signed the Executive Order to switch to the right because of American Military 😊😊
I can't see the UK, Ireland, etc. changing because they are on islands and not connected to mainland Europe. And the English, etc. holiday in Spain, Greece, etc. so it is no big deal as many adapt quickly while on holiday.
"I think sååå"😄👌
I have driven for many years on the 'right side' but my feeling is that the left side is more correct because it is naturally clockwise. Maybe Sweden should not have bothered.
'Naturally clockwise'?!
Do you drive only in circles?!
Lol, what a joke 😂
@@trueaussie9230 Only at roundabouts.
Why would they have the convert the headlights for?
Headlights are designed with a dim spot on one side in the direction of oncoming traffic to avoid blinding oncoming drivers. If you switch to driving on the other side of the road then the dim spot is on the wrong side so they temporarily stuck a sticker on the left side of the light to protect oncoming drivers until they get around to replacing the headlights with new ones optimised for right side traffic.
Huh?? Sweden didn't switch to right hand drive. They switched FROM right hand drive to left hand drive in 1967. Right hand drive means the steering wheel is on the right side of the car, therefore driving on the left side of the road.
No. All cars in Sweden have always had the wheel on the left. No change needed.
@@starvictory7079 huh, weird. Still, the title is incorrect.
@@hazridge In Swedish it is called "right hand traffic" - no matter where the steering wheel is placed.
@@knowledgeisgood9645 yeah it’s the same in English
@@hazridge
In what English speaking nation is the term 'right hand TRAFFIC' used to indicate the driving orientation of individual vehicles?!
In English, 'right hand TRAFFIC' would mean the TRAFFIC on the right-hand side - eg 'when joining a motorway the right-hand traffic must merge with the left-hand traffic'.
BTW - I have MANY years experience teaching English, especially ESOL, if you need assistance. 😉😊
such a shame they got rid of the trams. Trams are such great infrastructure
Before they got polluted.
What does that mean… 🤨
His name is Lars Sköld, nothing else!
Right or Left?
The Irish are going to switch their cars over in a few moths time. If the six-week trial is a success then trucks and buses will move too. ;-)
Britain use to manufacture and sell Leyland buses to Sweden and British cars. 🇸🇪🤝🇬🇧
Rest in Peace Olof Palme 🌹
I remember when they did this,
What is ITN Archive?
Commercial archive of Independent Television News (ITN), who produce television news under contact to various British TV channels.
@@jameslovestokyoNot for a few years they haven’t. Taken over by ITV.
Does anyone remember if the transition went smoothly?
@@sebastian0107 yes it did.
@@Hongaars1969 Impressive!
@@sebastian0107 Furthermore there was no increase in collisions during the transition period like many people predicted. There was actually a decrease in collisions immediately after conversion, probably due to people driving more carefully
@@OntarioTrafficMan Thanks! Amazing operation. Luckily not to many drunk-drivers!
too bad the trams were removed. something that has now been reversed
@0:11 'the biggest problem will be I'll need to keep my mind awake and on my driving'.
In één dag een heel land omvormen van links naar rechts rijdend voor 45 miljoen pond. Those were the days. Nooit geweten dat ze daar ooit links reden b.t.w.
nu de hele zin in het engels en youre there.
@@ray076NL 'you're there' 😉
They're a funny people, wanted to keep driving on the wrong side of the road well into the 70's...
a volvo p 1800 the saint.
I think it's actually an 1800S.
(P1800s were partly made and fully assembled in the UK. Quality deteriorated so production was relocated to be fully Swedish. The 'P' was dropped and the 'S', for Sweden, added.)
Until recently I had a 1965 1800S.
I'd fully restored it over 10 years.
I miss it very much.
Oh well. Life goes on.
Very sad they got rid of all the trams probably the biggest mistake like many European countries have done.
There are trams in Sthlm again. Not many, but a few lines.
They have other things to worry about now. Being the firearms use capital of Europe due to compassion and enrichment
Had it been right hand driving in India.All the driver's job in Europe snatched by Indian driver's.😂😂
Don't see how that's relevant, I have only been driving for a couple of years and driving on the opposite side of the road felt natural after 5 minutes.
Would rather live in this time of Sweden than todays unsafe multicultural Sweden.
Life has to get worse every day.
Or you can't have "the good old days".
Don't worry, nature's automatic mechanism for coping with change never fails
@@MartintheTinman still, my point still stands.
@@Burgerplayer3920 you do you
You can't be serious.
E pensare che la guida nacque a destra
Se dovessi però guidare in 🇬🇧 SAREBBE UN DRAMMA
Anche se in pratica col volante ci sono nato, avevo 18 anni quando presi la patente , e ne ho 46
Quando vedo i 🇬🇧 qui in vacanza, ho paura al posto loro😮
Specialmente se capitano a Napoli😅😅😅
Lí abbiamo paura anche noi italiani del nord
tis whynthe Finish are such good F1 drivers.
even though Swedish,, my god. anyway. they have/had Saab and Volvo.
If they do this Finns will storm in!
Of course, Britain should have done it, but the uk is too afraid of change and rather pay the price for bad decisions than changing them
Like everywhere they're not afraid of changing for the worse
In times past, the vast majority of vehicles in the world were RIGHT hand drive and the vast majority of 'controlled' traffic in the world travelled on the LEFT hand side of the road.
One need only look at the design and construction of the oldest horse-drawn carriages and coaches.
Most people in the world are - and always have been - right handed.
Sitting on the right-hand side of the vehicle ensures easier use of a whip.
With right-HANDED people the right FOOT is the dominant one.
Hence the foot operated brake is positioned on the right hand side of the carriage/coach.
Why should the UK - or any nation - change from a logical system to a nonsensical system?
BTW - even the earliest Fords were built right-hand drive, for the local market.
India can buy all left hand drive vehicles.😂😂
Well, that is what they did with their old buses, most were sold to left hand drive countries like Kenya and Pakistan
But why?
Politicians???
To many were killed - overtaking! Left hand drive cars!
Sweden has land borders with LHD Norway and Finland (and now a bridge connection to Denmark), and large numbers of cross-border traffic.
They literally said in the video
@@OntarioTrafficMan I missed that, thanks.
This makes sense. Everyone knows that proper motorists drive on the right hand side. Driving on the left is unrefined.
No, not everyone knows that. And refinement has nothing to do with it.
Yes! There's the right and the wrong side of the road.
@@rgrnduA sense of humour and the ability to recognize a joke is also seen as a form of refinement.
Better tell that to people in the US Virgin Islands - they've been American since 1917, and they still drive on the left, with left hand drive cars ua-cam.com/video/R1hjQrVy7Ec/v-deo.html
@@ylette It's funny how people call driving on the left "the wrong side" but never say the same thing about trains when leaving the end stations.
Amazing how poorly Swedes were speaking English back then, compared with today.
Before WW2 German was the first foreign language to learn in school. If you were born before say 1930 you probably only learned rudimentary English if at all.
Big bloody mess.
Clearly it was not !!
They made this reform in conjunction with other massive infrastructure projects, modernizing city centres and building lots of freeways.
It was kind of a "now or never"-situation. Private automobile ownership had been on the rise for two decades but hadn't yet exploded. In just a few years, Sweden would become almost completely motorized.
City streets and country roads ca be switched around by just changing over the signs (not an easy feat) but highways re built with on- and off-ramps as part of the engineering. You can't just switch those around.
You’re clearly Stu…..
From Minister of Com. to traitor of sweden in just a few years :D