Life in the Oncoming Lane
One of the unusual things I noticed shortly after I arrived in Stockholm was the direction of travel in the Tunnelbana. Everywhere else I've ever been, the direction of travel in the subway matches what's done on the roads—drive on the right, trains on the right, and vice-versa. But Sweden is a right-side-drive country, while the subway goes forward on the left. (In other words, if you stand in a train facing forward, a train heading in the opposite direction will pass by your right shoulder.) This struck me as rather odd, and made me curious about why things are this way. So the other night I did some digging.
It turns out Sweden was a left-side-drive country (vänstertrafik) for a very long time–over two centuries, to be exact, from about 1735 (when one presumes most of the traffic was not motorized but equine) until 1967. In 1955, partly due to the fact that Norway, Finland, and Denmark all drove on the right, the government held a referendum to find out how the populace would feel about switching. It failed miserably, with nearly 83% voting against. In 1963, the Riksdag decided to make the switch to högertrafik anyway.
And so it was that on September 3, 1967—Dagen H, as it was called—the direction of traffic switched.
Overnight.
Stop and think about that for a minute. It's not exactly like missing the semi-annual switchover between Daylight Saving and Standard time: if you missed that reminder on the evening news, or forgot to pick up a newspaper that day, you'd end up either an hour early or an hour late to your first appointment the next morning. Annoying, but nothing earth-shattering. Now imagine that you missed the Dagen H announcement: you wake up the next morning, get in the car, pull out of the driveway... and find yourself going head-on into oncoming traffic.
As the photograph by legendary Swedish photojournalist Leif Engberg shows, it was a treacherous morning for just about everyone.
To be fair, the Swedish government was very thorough in preparing its residents for the change. Booklets were sent to every household in Sweden months in advance; soldiers, police, and workers were deployed on the big morning (Morgon H?) to assist with signs, stoplights, and intersections; all traffic was stopped for several hours before and after 5:00am, the time designated for the switchover; and of course, commemorative underpants were manufactured to mark the occasion.
And that, my friends, is why the subway in Stockholm runs the way it does.
Further information is available here, here, and here. These three excellent writeups served as the sources for most of the information in this post.
It turns out Sweden was a left-side-drive country (vänstertrafik) for a very long time–over two centuries, to be exact, from about 1735 (when one presumes most of the traffic was not motorized but equine) until 1967. In 1955, partly due to the fact that Norway, Finland, and Denmark all drove on the right, the government held a referendum to find out how the populace would feel about switching. It failed miserably, with nearly 83% voting against. In 1963, the Riksdag decided to make the switch to högertrafik anyway.
And so it was that on September 3, 1967—Dagen H, as it was called—the direction of traffic switched.
Overnight.
Stop and think about that for a minute. It's not exactly like missing the semi-annual switchover between Daylight Saving and Standard time: if you missed that reminder on the evening news, or forgot to pick up a newspaper that day, you'd end up either an hour early or an hour late to your first appointment the next morning. Annoying, but nothing earth-shattering. Now imagine that you missed the Dagen H announcement: you wake up the next morning, get in the car, pull out of the driveway... and find yourself going head-on into oncoming traffic.As the photograph by legendary Swedish photojournalist Leif Engberg shows, it was a treacherous morning for just about everyone.
To be fair, the Swedish government was very thorough in preparing its residents for the change. Booklets were sent to every household in Sweden months in advance; soldiers, police, and workers were deployed on the big morning (Morgon H?) to assist with signs, stoplights, and intersections; all traffic was stopped for several hours before and after 5:00am, the time designated for the switchover; and of course, commemorative underpants were manufactured to mark the occasion.
And that, my friends, is why the subway in Stockholm runs the way it does.
Further information is available here, here, and here. These three excellent writeups served as the sources for most of the information in this post.
posted by Biff at 14:40
3 Comments:
Hadn't seen this one yet...but great!
In Madrid, the metro also runs vänstertrafik while the rest of the country drives on the right. I was told British engineers designed the first line (opened in 1919) and the rest of the network has been following that pattern ever since.
Nice blog! It makes me remember my stay in Sweden two years ago!
Interesting! I've never been to Madrid, but it's fascinating to know that Stockholm is not the only place with this unusual arrangement.
And thanks for the kudos. I've been very, very bad about blogging for some time now--there are quite a few posts in "draft" form, but I haven't gotten around to cleaning them up and publishing them. Maybe this is just the kick in the pants I need to start it up again.
Cheers,
/Biff
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