Australia is set to join 90 per cent of the world’s traffic and move to the right, adopting left-hand drive cars in the process, following a radical change to our road laws coming in 2019.
Speaking on behalf of the Federal Ombudsman for Opposite Lanes, Transitional Lane Change Manager Geoffrey Raffe stated that the switch would allow Australians a more diverse choice of vehicles in the market, drawing from popular European and North American models available only in left-hand drive format.
“There are only around 60 brands available for sale in Australia, and I think we need more”, said Raffe. “The move to right-side traffic puts Australia on the map with other leading nations, and opens up the opportunity for easier management of trans-Pacific tunnels – allowing smooth road travel between Australia and the USA.”
Currently Australia is one of only 75 countries using left-side traffic, compared to 161 using right-side. The change will come into blanket effect on February 29, 2019.
“We are engaging a large volunteer contingent to be available to turn road-signs around on the changeover date”. It is understood that the process will involve a number of community led sausage sizzle BBQ festivities to encourage volunteer action.
Harland Sanders, a spokesman for the the Fast Food Industry of Australia, applauded the change. “We were looking to move to a buffet style business model anyway, and the traffic change will allow customers to simply take whatever food they wanted, then pay on the way out – without us having to alter our existing drive-through infrastructure.”
CarAdvice is keen to see the Australian market flush with such unobtainable LHD cars like the Lancia Ypsilon Elefantino and Chevrolet Corvette come the rule update.
We will bring you more on this story as it develops.
-Car Advice