What do the people of Ireland think?

Question

Re the debate going on at the moment of moving over to driving on the right hand side of the road instead of the left, so that there are less accidents involving foreigners.

Answer 1

I Imagine the general thought is "why should we change for foreigners" I'm not Irish but i would not want to change the road rules here in England to suit people from outside of the country.

Answer 2

I am Irish, we love to talk, it's all talk and will not happen.

Irish drivers do not DO rules well  - it's chaotic already. If this ever happened it would cut the population by 50% overnight.

Answer 3

It would sound like it would help in the long run.

Answer 4

Hello Mary e,

                      It's not going to happen, as the people in the North are not going to do it , because there is no real need for it to happen, there are not so many foreigners involved in driving accidents as the powers that be would have us believe, because if the driving rules change in Ireland there are going to be many many more accidents involving Irish Nationals, and their own driving habits. It falls a bit under the guise of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' and it would be easier to make Foreigners understand that the reason they are being charged an increased and returnable insurance surcharge, is their drivers licence is from a Country that drives on the Right of the roads, and if they manage to get through their visit to Ireland accident free, their surcharge will be refunded, and any Irish driver unfortunate enough to have an accident caused by a foreign driver can get his damaged veihicle and hospital treatment paid for by the Foreigners Surcharge.

            A foriegn Driver would be a bit more aware of the driving rules and regulations in Ireland, and any other Country too for that matter that drives on the left, and No surcharge PAID, then they MUST NOT drive in IRELAND. and this rule would be easy to put into force, by having the surcharge paid with the visitors ticket when he books his passage, I hope you can understand this Mary, but it made perfect sense to me when I composed this answer for you... Tony M

Answer 5

I don't know what the Irish think, but it went well in Sweden when they did it.

Of course, if WE ever did it, we'd do it the British way.

"From 1st of January 2009, all vehicles registered before 1st of September 1967........."