Will Myanmar eventually switch back to right hand drive like American Samoa did?

[Tomtomtom69]

So the elections are being held, hope whoever wins will change over to the left for greater regional integration

That would be good, but I don't think it's likely to happen anytime soon mainly due to cost. Of course, the longer they wait and the more developed the country gets, the more difficult it becomes. The present administration probably realizes that it made a mistake in switching sides back in 1970 for stupid, ideological reasons after the then president consulted a fortune teller who told him to "move right", which meant moving to the right of the political spectrum and even side of the road. Perhaps it was taken so literally that even today the vast majority of Burmese vehicles still have RHD.

As a result however, apart from road signs placed on the right hand side of the road, most other infrastructure is still in a position to switch sides without doing much at all. Toll booths such as at bridges do not favor one side or the other. Most toll booths are positioned in such a way that a driver driving a RHD vehicle can easily pass money to the toll collectors. Generally they have windows on both sides so by switching traffic hardly any adjustment would need to be made.

There are also very few overpasses; expressway entrances/exits (only affecting the Yangon-Mandalay expressway) could easily be switched around without much modification required from what I've seen.

Some traffic lights are positioned on the "wrong" side of the road in Yangon and never switched over. In Myawady, I recently saw a no u-turn sign that was pointing towards the right, meaning it should be intended for traffic that drives on the left, as the arrow was pointing from left to right with a line through it.

The other issue is that there is very little cross border traffic between Myanmar and it's neighbors. This is because not only does Myanmar restrict vehicles from neighboring countries from travelling more than a few km inside it's borders, but those countries impose the same restrictions on Burmese vehicles. Therefore, for all intents and purposes, Myanmar might as well drive in the middle of the road because as far as it's neighbors are concerned, unless there is significant cross border traffic, then switching sides is not a big deal and does not really offer much benefit to any neighboring country. For now, trucks, vans and cars send goods and passengers across the bridge between Myawady and Mae Sot (easily one of the busiest crossings nowadays) as well as Tachilek-Mae Sai but traffic volumes are a drop in the ocean compared to any Thai-Lao border crossing, especially the Nong Khai-Vientiane one which receives tens of thousands of vehicles crossing in both directions daily on a busy day, thousands otherwise. Thai-Myanmar or Myanmar-China crossings might get a few hundred if they're lucky. There are also no buses crossing any Myanmar land border, whereas buses cross between Thailand and Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia in their dozens (or more) daily.

[cumgranosalum]

So the elections are being held, hope whoever wins will change over to the left for greater regional integration

That would be good, but I don't think it's likely to happen anytime soon mainly due to cost. Of course, the longer they wait and the more developed the country gets, the more difficult it becomes. The present administration probably realizes that it made a mistake in switching sides back in 1970 for stupid, ideological reasons after the then president consulted a fortune teller who told him to "move right", which meant moving to the right of the political spectrum and even side of the road. Perhaps it was taken so literally that even today the vast majority of Burmese vehicles still have RHD.

As a result however, apart from road signs placed on the right hand side of the road, most other infrastructure is still in a position to switch sides without doing much at all. Toll booths such as at bridges do not favor one side or the other. Most toll booths are positioned in such a way that a driver driving a RHD vehicle can easily pass money to the toll collectors. Generally they have windows on both sides so by switching traffic hardly any adjustment would need to be made.

There are also very few overpasses; expressway entrances/exits (only affecting the Yangon-Mandalay expressway) could easily be switched around without much modification required from what I've seen.

Some traffic lights are positioned on the "wrong" side of the road in Yangon and never switched over. In Myawady, I recently saw a no u-turn sign that was pointing towards the right, meaning it should be intended for traffic that drives on the left, as the arrow was pointing from left to right with a line through it.

The other issue is that there is very little cross border traffic between Myanmar and it's neighbors. This is because not only does Myanmar restrict vehicles from neighboring countries from travelling more than a few km inside it's borders, but those countries impose the same restrictions on Burmese vehicles. Therefore, for all intents and purposes, Myanmar might as well drive in the middle of the road because as far as it's neighbors are concerned, unless there is significant cross border traffic, then switching sides is not a big deal and does not really offer much benefit to any neighboring country. For now, trucks, vans and cars send goods and passengers across the bridge between Myawady and Mae Sot (easily one of the busiest crossings nowadays) as well as Tachilek-Mae Sai but traffic volumes are a drop in the ocean compared to any Thai-Lao border crossing, especially the Nong Khai-Vientiane one which receives tens of thousands of vehicles crossing in both directions daily on a busy day, thousands otherwise. Thai-Myanmar or Myanmar-China crossings might get a few hundred if they're lucky. There are also no buses crossing any Myanmar land border, whereas buses cross between Thailand and Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia in their dozens (or more) daily.

one has to wonder at the competence of any government that can't see the logic in changing back

[Tomtomtom69]

So the elections are being held, hope whoever wins will change over to the left for greater regional integration

That would be good, but I don't think it's likely to happen anytime soon mainly due to cost. Of course, the longer they wait and the more developed the country gets, the more difficult it becomes. The present administration probably realizes that it made a mistake in switching sides back in 1970 for stupid, ideological reasons after the then president consulted a fortune teller who told him to "move right", which meant moving to the right of the political spectrum and even side of the road. Perhaps it was taken so literally that even today the vast majority of Burmese vehicles still have RHD.

As a result however, apart from road signs placed on the right hand side of the road, most other infrastructure is still in a position to switch sides without doing much at all. Toll booths such as at bridges do not favor one side or the other. Most toll booths are positioned in such a way that a driver driving a RHD vehicle can easily pass money to the toll collectors. Generally they have windows on both sides so by switching traffic hardly any adjustment would need to be made.

There are also very few overpasses; expressway entrances/exits (only affecting the Yangon-Mandalay expressway) could easily be switched around without much modification required from what I've seen.

Some traffic lights are positioned on the "wrong" side of the road in Yangon and never switched over. In Myawady, I recently saw a no u-turn sign that was pointing towards the right, meaning it should be intended for traffic that drives on the left, as the arrow was pointing from left to right with a line through it.

The other issue is that there is very little cross border traffic between Myanmar and it's neighbors. This is because not only does Myanmar restrict vehicles from neighboring countries from travelling more than a few km inside it's borders, but those countries impose the same restrictions on Burmese vehicles. Therefore, for all intents and purposes, Myanmar might as well drive in the middle of the road because as far as it's neighbors are concerned, unless there is significant cross border traffic, then switching sides is not a big deal and does not really offer much benefit to any neighboring country. For now, trucks, vans and cars send goods and passengers across the bridge between Myawady and Mae Sot (easily one of the busiest crossings nowadays) as well as Tachilek-Mae Sai but traffic volumes are a drop in the ocean compared to any Thai-Lao border crossing, especially the Nong Khai-Vientiane one which receives tens of thousands of vehicles crossing in both directions daily on a busy day, thousands otherwise. Thai-Myanmar or Myanmar-China crossings might get a few hundred if they're lucky. There are also no buses crossing any Myanmar land border, whereas buses cross between Thailand and Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia in their dozens (or more) daily.

one has to wonder at the competence of any government that can't see the logic in changing back

I fully agree that they should change back. However, until, or unless they open up their borders properly to international traffic, and not just this one day pass for vehicles BS then to be honest it's kind of irrelevant because they might as well be an island. That's because unless vehicles from neighboring countries can freely travel throughout the country, then this idealist notion of "integration" will not become a reality. At no point in the past has Myanmar ever been a transit country for international traffic like Laos and Thailand currently are, or most countries in Europe or North America are. There would be extremely few benefits for Myanmar from changing as long as vehicles from neighboring countries can't freely enter AND in significant numbers, at least 10 times more than current daily numbers and then the restrictions on where they can travel are removed.

There is no official cross-border logistics transport either - local trucks transport goods back and forth but few, if any companies like the ones who do Thailand-Laos-China or Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore through transport operate even the few km inside Myanmar they are allowed to go. This basically means you have to show up at the border and ask a local truck to bring your goods across - it can't be done while sitting in an office in Bangkok or Yangon (if going in the other direction). Only once you have a reliable contact can phone contact be relied upon.

The first step to regional integration will be to remove the restrictions on the transit of foreign registered vehicles and then they think about changing the side of the road traffic moves on.

[cumgranosalum]

Burma has been and may well again be a centre for international traffic and several countries are interested in getting up transit routes across the country.....both China and Thailand have already built roads in that direction. Border crossings have been nominated and are awaiting completion and traffic.

Burma has invaluable deep water ports that Western China nd S.e. Asia badly need......so all their neighbours are waiting for access.........however I don't think that DoL or DoR are overly important here - it may be that China has already stuck it's oar in here and persuaded the powers that be to turn things to their advantage - e.g car exports as well s DoR.

I do think given the current crazy situation and the majority of RHD cars both in Burma and ASEAN that it would make sense to turn back to DoL

I think whichever way politics go in Burma, it will be nigh-on impossible for any government to ignore the amuont of trade that is hanging around waiting just outside their borders......a tide of investment could flow from this.

[Tomtomtom69]

Burma has been and may well again be a centre for international traffic and several countries are interested in getting up transit routes across the country.....both China and Thailand have already built roads in that direction. Border crossings have been nominated and are awaiting completion and traffic.

Burma has invaluable deep water ports that Western China nd S.e. Asia badly need......so all their neighbours are waiting for access.........however I don't think that DoL or DoR are overly important here - it may be that China has already stuck it's oar in here and persuaded the powers that be to turn things to their advantage - e.g car exports as well s DoR.

I do think given the current crazy situation and the majority of RHD cars both in Burma and ASEAN that it would make sense to turn back to DoL

I think whichever way politics go in Burma, it will be nigh-on impossible for any government to ignore the amuont of trade that is hanging around waiting just outside their borders......a tide of investment could flow from this.

Of course - that's what I have been saying in my previous replies.

However, first of all, most of these roads have only been constructed and completed in the past couple of years. Case in point is the Myawady to Kawkareik mountain bypass road built by the Thais, totally 30km in length but if you include the section to the border at Myawady it's around 45km - first 15km out of Myawady was completed in 2013 prior to the opening of the land border checkpoint as an international gateway, while the 30km mountain bypass section was only inaugurated by the Thai and Burmese governments on August 30 of this year. That road is probably easily the best quality road in all of Myanmar.

So far though, only local trucks have been able to carry goods from the border areas to the interior of the country. This has always been the case although it remains to be seen if Myanmar will open up to international traffic, perhaps after the new government comes to power in April.

Trade is certainly flowing into and out of Myanmar, not just via it's seaports and airports but also it's land borders, particularly China and Thailand although trade with India is increasing too.

I highly doubt China has any influence upon whether Myanmar drives on the left or right. It's vehicles can't even enter the country except for the purposes of switching vehicles in Muse, which is the main border crossing for China-Myanmar trade. Hong Kong and Macau, both parts of China now still drive on the left, so something as trivial as the side of the road Myanmar drives on is hardly of interest to China and largely irrelevant.

As I've said before, Myanmar realizes it made a mistake by switching sides but that was done over 45 years ago. The cost to switch back would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars if not billions. Considering that until recently, Myanmar was an impoverished country and even now it still has so much catching up to do to even match most of it's neighbors, I don't think switching sides is a priority for now even though I would personally support it and so would logistics operators particularly Thai and Indian based ones but to be honest there are more important things. Like for example, if the main truck transit routes all consisted of good quality, Thailand like roads with wide lanes and generous shoulders, overtaking/passing lanes, 4-lane roads in high traffic areas, then DoR or DoL really doesn't matter so much.

[cumgranosalum]

Burma has been and may well again be a centre for international traffic and several countries are interested in getting up transit routes across the country.....both China and Thailand have already built roads in that direction. Border crossings have been nominated and are awaiting completion and traffic.

Burma has invaluable deep water ports that Western China nd S.e. Asia badly need......so all their neighbours are waiting for access.........however I don't think that DoL or DoR are overly important here - it may be that China has already stuck it's oar in here and persuaded the powers that be to turn things to their advantage - e.g car exports as well s DoR.

I do think given the current crazy situation and the majority of RHD cars both in Burma and ASEAN that it would make sense to turn back to DoL

I think whichever way politics go in Burma, it will be nigh-on impossible for any government to ignore the amuont of trade that is hanging around waiting just outside their borders......a tide of investment could flow from this.

Of course - that's what I have been saying in my previous replies.

However, first of all, most of these roads have only been constructed and completed in the past couple of years. Case in point is the Myawady to Kawkareik mountain bypass road built by the Thais, totally 30km in length but if you include the section to the border at Myawady it's around 45km - first 15km out of Myawady was completed in 2013 prior to the opening of the land border checkpoint as an international gateway, while the 30km mountain bypass section was only inaugurated by the Thai and Burmese governments on August 30 of this year. That road is probably easily the best quality road in all of Myanmar.

So far though, only local trucks have been able to carry goods from the border areas to the interior of the country. This has always been the case although it remains to be seen if Myanmar will open up to international traffic, perhaps after the new government comes to power in April.

Trade is certainly flowing into and out of Myanmar, not just via it's seaports and airports but also it's land borders, particularly China and Thailand although trade with India is increasing too.

I highly doubt China has any influence upon whether Myanmar drives on the left or right. It's vehicles can't even enter the country except for the purposes of switching vehicles in Muse, which is the main border crossing for China-Myanmar trade. Hong Kong and Macau, both parts of China now still drive on the left, so something as trivial as the side of the road Myanmar drives on is hardly of interest to China and largely irrelevant.

As I've said before, Myanmar realizes it made a mistake by switching sides but that was done over 45 years ago. The cost to switch back would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars if not billions. Considering that until recently, Myanmar was an impoverished country and even now it still has so much catching up to do to even match most of it's neighbors, I don't think switching sides is a priority for now even though I would personally support it and so would logistics operators particularly Thai and Indian based ones but to be honest there are more important things. Like for example, if the main truck transit routes all consisted of good quality, Thailand like roads with wide lanes and generous shoulders, overtaking/passing lanes, 4-lane roads in high traffic areas, then DoR or DoL really doesn't matter so much.

"he cost to switch back would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars if not billions." - the cost of not switching back may be more - when one considers the original city streets etc were build "the other way round" and 90% of all vehicles are RHD.

[badshah]

This is a start: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160302/jsp/nation/story_72331.jsp

Not much of a fan of Modi, but on this I'm glad he was able to convince Myanmar to stick with the left for the highway at least.

Baby steps, so hopefully Modi will convince Myanmar to completely switch to the left side traffic for its entire road infrastructure.

[cumgranosalum]

This is a start: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160302/jsp/nation/story_72331.jsp

Not much of a fan of Modi, but on this I'm glad he was able to convince Myanmar to stick with the left for the highway at least.

Baby steps, so hopefully Modi will convince Myanmar to completely switch to the left side traffic for its entire road infrastructure.

Interesting point - this might help persuade Burma to see the light.

however the reporter seems a little ill-informed or naive.......

"Scotland's nationalists, for instance, had only last year promised that they would break from the British drive-on-the-left rule if they won the independence vote they eventually lost." - dated 1/4/2014 (!?!?!)

[Tomtomtom69]

A few years ago there was a trans Asian highway system touted, as I recall each country were to upgrade certain roads to allow what you're referring to, seamless road travel.

The subject was reported in the Myanmar news at the time. I don't remember anyone talking about switching the side they drive on, but I do recall a proposal was put forward whereby certain roads that crossed Myanmar would match Thailand and India, but the local road system would remain as it is!

Never heard anymore about it after that, I think it kind of died.

In the Indian (and occasionally Thai) press there have stories about the Indian sponsored "trilateral highway" from Mae Sot to Imphal crossing Myanmar. Never did I hear a proposal that the Myanmar side would be driving on the left ONLY on the stretch of road from Myawady to Tamu. In fact, my understanding is that the existing road will simply be upgraded and the first 45km from the Thai border is now complete - the road is just like a new Thai road; given it was built by a Thai contractor this shouldn't be surprising. It is also the best quality road in all of Myanmar and possibly the only one built according to international standards in the entire country. However, traffic moves on the right like everywhere else in Myanmar.

On the Thai side, when you turn off onto the Mae Sot-Tak road, there is an amusing sign with pictures of the Shwedagon Pagoda and get this, the Taj Mahal! Like any Thai driver would ever get the opportunity to drive from Tak to the Taj Mahal, over 4000km away, a pipe dream!

This story hasn't died, just that I have never heard the parts of it that you described.

Edited March 3, 2016 by Tomtomtom69

[cumgranosalum]

Pipe dream? well seeing as India is now the fastest growing major economy and is in direct competition with China on many levels, I suspect there will be a alot of interest in opening up this trade route - at least by India.

Quite apart from construction, there's a lot of bureaucracy to get over.....but making a sealed corridor for the purpose of tax/duties etc is not without precident. However if not a "sealed" highway it would stand to reason to make the rest of Myanmar DoL.

[Tomtomtom69]

Pipe dream? well seeing as India is now the fastest growing major economy and is in direct competition with China on many levels, I suspect there will be a alot of interest in opening up this trade route - at least by India.

Quite apart from construction, there's a lot of bureaucracy to get over.....but making a sealed corridor for the purpose of tax/duties etc is not without precident. However if not a "sealed" highway it would stand to reason to make the rest of Myanmar DoL.

Sure, there would be a lot of interest, even by Thai firms. However, as my dad keeps telling me (he has been over to eastern India many times including the border with Myanmar in Mizoram province) the roads in that part of India are atrocious and it would take many days to transport freight from Mae Sot all the way to Calcutta, the first city of any size, a very long way around Bangladesh and over some of the most narrow, winding roads in the world. Any logistics firm is much better off concentrating on shipping goods by sea from either Dawei or Yangon directly to Calcutta. Apart from being much quicker, it's also much cheaper.

There is a lot of work to do to get a decent road up and running, which could possibly become useful for India-Myanmar-Thailand trade purposes.

After reading the article supplied above, I now see that the Burmese have agreed to doL on the Myawady to Tamu sector. However, are we talking about a completely new road here? I have my doubts this road will ever be built, I mean, it took years longer than expected to finally finish the 45km sector from Myawady via Thinnganinaung to Kawkareik, and all traffic on that road drives on the right, like in the rest of the country. The next stretch to be upgraded will be Kawkareik to Hpa-an, another 90km or so, with preparation works already having begun. However, like the first sector, this second one will not consist of a separate, new road but rather an upgrade to the existing one.

I'd be intrigued to see if a completely new road, perhaps an expressway even, ever takes shape that links Thailand and India. It would have my support, but I think it's many, many years off, probably decades. And yes, sure, perhaps it would be a catalyst to get Myanmar to change back to doL throughout the whole country. However, Myanmar seriously needs to consider doing so sooner rather than later, because even if this road gets built, by that time, you'll have possibly millions more vehicles on the roads and more road infrastructure, including traffic lights, entrances and exits designed for doR, more road signs etc. making it much more difficult to switchover. It's either now or never I'd say.

[Naam]

here's the "switch"... to the left side steering wheel

 

Quote

YANGON, Myanmar - Importers are up in arms over a ban on bringing in cars built before 2015 and total prohibition of more right-hand drive vehicles.

 

 

[simon43]

As per the article that Naam posted above..

 

DoL??

 

Never, stop wasting brain cells even discussing it.