"John Mayson"  wrote in message 
news:alpine.OSX.0.9999.0802091327470.240@john-maysons-ibook-g4.local...
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> http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN0828509020080208?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews
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> "DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland should consider giving up driving on the left 
> to reduce accidents by foreigners accustomed to right side motoring, a 
> senior politician said Friday."

Hi John,

Interesting article!  As much as I dislike the British for having imposed 
their values on the Irish, the notion of lefthand driving is one that has 
been instilled onto the Isle for quite sometime.  In switching to righthand 
driving, there would be greater number of accidents due to the confusion. 
The cost of removing signs and replacing these, the labour of moving 
existing signage, etc., would be an expensive undertaking too.  Older 
generations of Irish would have to relearn driving from square-one on their 
own homeland.  International visitors, coming from abroad and used to 
driving left on the Isle, would be intially disoriented.  Lastly, the border 
at Northern Ireland would be tricky, as the Union would certainly keep their 
lefthand driving if a righthand switch were made in the South.  The 
righthand to lefthand switch would cause delays at the border, regardless of 
the short or long duration thereof, where traffic freely flows today and 
unobstructed at the N1/A1 crossing.

I personally wouldn't like it; instead, road funds could be better allocated 
for translating the South's signage into the Irish language.  From what I've 
heard, there have been some movements in that respect between County Galway 
and County Donegal.

That said, if the Irish can manage to work together and made a righthand 
switch possible, then they would join the great number of participating EU 
states that do.  Included in this discussion, to get a well-rounded 
perspective, is the North and South.  I'm interested in what the Isle's 
inhabitants would think. :)

Slán,

Carl Rogers
San Francisco, Calif., USA
"Adding human experience to transportology"
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Scríobh "Carl Rogers" :
>  I'm interested in what the Isle's 
>inhabitants would think. :)

We think Donie Cassidy is an idiot.  This conclusion was reached long
before he decided to contribute to the road safety debate.

-- 
'Donegal:  Up Here It's Different'
© Féachadóir