Rules of the road

:This article concerns rules of the road regarding land vehicles; for sea-going vehicles, see International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea.

Vehicles

For safety reasons, some countries have banned the sale or import of vehicles with the steering wheel on the "wrong" side. In Australia this is the case with non-vintage LHD vehicles, with the result that Australians who do import such vehicles must pay thousands of dollars to convert them to RHD. In New Zealand, LHD vehicles may have been privately imported, and driven locally under a LHD permit. Since 1999, only LHD vehicles older than 20 years or cars owned and operated for at least 90 days may be privately imported. In the Philippines RHD cars are banned. Public buses imported from Japan are converted to LHD, but the passenger doors are left on the right side, leading to the odd (and dangerous) situation that passengers have to leave the bus on the road side.

Related Topics:
Australia - New Zealand - Philippines

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Cambodia banned the use of RHD cars, most of which were smuggled from Thailand, from 2001, even though these accounted for 80 per cent of vehicles in the country. The government threatened to confiscate all such vehicles unless they were converted to LHD, in spite of the considerable expense involved. According to a BBC report, changing the steering column from right to left would cost between US$600 and US$2000, in a country where average annual income was less than US$1000.

Related Topics:
Cambodia - Thailand - 2001 - BBC

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However, many used vehicles exported from Japan to countries like Russia and Peru are already converted to LHD. But even if driver's position is left unchanged some jurisdictions require at least headlights readjustment.

Related Topics:
Used vehicles exported - Russia - Peru

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In West Africa, Ghana and Gambia have also banned RHD vehicles.

Related Topics:
West Africa - Ghana - Gambia

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