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Changing Sides at Land Border?
Do you have experience of land border crossings where the adjoining countries drive on different sides of the road?
How are possible traffic conflicts handled at busy crossings? Are there any flyovers at crossings where immigration checking is minimal or non-existent? |
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driving..._left_or_right
There are many instances of traffic having to change sides at border crossings, such as at those between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Laos and Thailand, Sudan and Uganda. Thailand is particularly notable in the context of border crossings, as it is the only sizeable country that has nearly all of its borders with countries that drive on the opposite side. It drives on the left, but 90% (4,357 km or 2,707 miles) of its borders are with countries that drive on the right, with only Malaysia driving on the left since Myanmar (Burma) changed from driving on the left to driving on the right in 1970. Many borders are formed from natural barriers such as mountains or rivers, and this is particularly true of borders where traffic changes sides of the road, especially in Asia. These natural barriers make the number of border crossings much lower than would otherwise be the case. Furthermore, given their remoteness, most mountain border crossings have relatively low traffic volumes and so changing sides of the road is even less of an issue. The four most common ways of switching traffic from one side to the other at borders are: * Traffic lights. Examples are: o Friendship Bridge between Thailand and Laos, change takes place on Lao side - photo, photo o Second Thai–Lao Friendship Bridge, between Thailand and Laos, change takes place on Thai side o Friendship Bridge between Thailand (Mae Sot) and Myanmar (Myawaddy) - photo o New bridge between Thailand (Mae Sai) and Myanmar (opened in 2006) - photo * Crossover bridges. Examples are: o Lok Ma Chau between Hong Kong and mainland China - Google Maps o Lotus Bridge between Macau and mainland China - Google Maps * Border roads intersect with roundabouts or other one-way traffic systems. Examples are: o Man Kam To between Hong Kong and mainland China - Google Maps o Land border between Macau and mainland China - Google Maps * No automatic infrastructure (signposts and directions only), most commonly found at borders with low vehicular traffic volumes. Examples are: o Poipet between Thailand and Cambodia - photo, photo o Old bridge between Thailand (Mae Sai) and Myanmar - photo, photo o Khunjerab Pass between Pakistan and China - photo |
I'll give you the example of the land border crossings between Hong Kong and China.
At Lok Ma Chau/Huanggang, the busiest crossing, there are flyovers (or overpasses, as we call it here in the US). At the older Man Kam To crossing, the bridge across Shenzhen River runs like roads in Hong Kong (driving on the left). Once you cross into China, you turn left into the Chinese border control area to the west, and then exit to other roads. Coming back, the Chinese border control area is to the east. So, you just drive into that area, and when you approach the bridge, you'll be driving on the left side. No major flyovers there. Same thing at Sha Tau Kok. At the new Western Crossing opening today, the long bridge across Shenzhen Bay again runs like Hong Kong roads - driving on the left. I believe the roadways cross over itself where the bridge hits Chinese soil. --- BTW, I really like the pretzel-style roadway at the Chinese end of the Lotus Bridge between China and Macau. You can see it very clearly on Google Earth. |
There would have once been land border crossings in Europe where the traffic had to change sides of the road. All of mainland Europe now drives on the right: the last country to change was Sweden, in 1967 (I think). Portugal changed in the early twentieth century (although Macau didn't - it continued to drive on the left), and other countries changed in the 1920s and 1930s. Of course, even in the late 1960s, road traffic was much less than it is today.
In addition to Asia, there are still places in Africa where the traffic must change sides, since the countries of southern and south-eastern Africa drive on the left and their neighbours to the north and west do not. Again, though, traffice volumes would be relatively small at most border crossings, at least by European or North American standards. |
Rwanda/Uganda
At the border crossing there is a change of sides on the road. Not that it really matters as it is mass confusion anyway.
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An old Irish joke states that they are to change to drive on the right. From next Sunday all cars will drive on the right. If that is a sucess buses and lorries will follow suit the next Sunday!!!!! (BTW I am a native of the island of Ireland)
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Thanks all for your posts, especially mkt for the Wikipedia link which broadened my understanding of the background of the whole "side of road" issue.
At the risk of the thread going OT and becoming a bit OMNI-ish, I expect that in the not so distant future the problem (except for pedestrians and cyclists) will be resolved because driving under manual control by humans will no longer be legal. All vehicles will be controlled using GPS and size data. There will only be one rule of the road - "No vehicle shall ever occupy or attempt to occupy the same space at the same time as any other" |
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