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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Greetings everyone, Welcome to This Day in History Class,

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Speaker 1: where we learn a smidgen of history every day. Today

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Speaker 1: is September three. The day was September three, nineteen Traffic

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Speaker 1: in Sweden switched from being on the left side of

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Speaker 1: the road to the right side of the road. The

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Speaker 1: day is officially known as haggar traffic cam Lagen, or

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Speaker 1: the right hand traffic diversion. It's also called doggin Hoa

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Speaker 1: or h day for short. The change caused some disruption,

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Speaker 1: but not much, since Sweden had been preparing for the

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Speaker 1: switch for a while. Most countries in the region drove

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Speaker 1: on the right side of the road, though some European

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Speaker 1: countries like Ireland, written and Iceland stuck to driving on

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Speaker 1: the left side. Many of Britain's former territories still drive

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Speaker 1: on the left as well. Left side driving can be

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Speaker 1: traced back to ancient Rome. It's not clear why ancient

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Speaker 1: Romans traveled on the left, but it could have been

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Speaker 1: so they could use their weapons with their right hand

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Speaker 1: when someone approached the practice of staying on the left

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Speaker 1: side of the road continued into medieval Europe, but by

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Speaker 1: the nineteenth century, the United States, Canada, France, and Germany

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Speaker 1: had adopted the key right rule. More European countries standardized

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Speaker 1: driving on the right side throughout the twentieth century. That

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Speaker 1: became an issue for Swedish drivers. Since important and Swedish

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Speaker 1: mate cars had steering on the left side, and places

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Speaker 1: that have right hand side regulations, drivers sit on the

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Speaker 1: left hand side. That way, drivers can see past the

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Speaker 1: vehicle in front of them, but passing a car and

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Speaker 1: Sweden was difficult and dangerous since drivers sat and drove

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Speaker 1: on the left side. This awkward setup led to many

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Speaker 1: head on collisions on two lane highways as drivers ventured

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Speaker 1: into oncoming traffic to pass a vehicle. Also, people from

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Speaker 1: nearby countries like Denmark, Norway and Finland were used to

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Speaker 1: driving on the right side, so they often got an

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Speaker 1: accidents when they visited Sweden because of the confusion. So

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Speaker 1: the Swedish government decided to take the issue of whether

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Speaker 1: Sweden should switch to right hand side driving to a

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Speaker 1: vote in the nineteen referendum of people opposed the switch,

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Speaker 1: but by nineteen sixty seven there were a lot more

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Speaker 1: vehicles on the road and safety was a concern. The

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Speaker 1: government decided to go forth with the change anyway. They

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Speaker 1: started a whole campaign to make the transition smooth. They

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Speaker 1: created signs and stickers with the logo for the transition.

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Speaker 1: The logo was an H with an arrow going from

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Speaker 1: the left side to the right side of the letter.

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Speaker 1: Beneath the H was the planned date for the switch,

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Speaker 1: September three, nineteen. The government put out pamphlets, p s,

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Speaker 1: a s and products that marketed the switch. A song

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Speaker 1: about H Day hit number five on Swedish music charts.

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Speaker 1: In addition to the public relations campaign, Sweden had to

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Speaker 1: go through major infrastructure changes. Signs had to be reversed,

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Speaker 1: intersections in one way, streets had to be dealt with,

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Speaker 1: and bus stops had to be moved. In the days

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Speaker 1: leading up to H Day, the new system was explained

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Speaker 1: on TV, on the radio and in newspapers. On the

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Speaker 1: morning of the change, all non essential traffic was ordered

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Speaker 1: to stay off the roads. At four fifty in the morning,

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Speaker 1: the phrase now is the time to change over was

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Speaker 1: announced over loud speakers. The entire project cost about six

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Speaker 1: hundred and twenty eight million kronor or two point six

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Speaker 1: billion kronor, the equivalent of three D and sixteen million

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Speaker 1: US dollars. On the Monday after H Day, slightly fewer

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Speaker 1: traffic accidents than average were reported. The number of motor

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Speaker 1: insurance claims went down, but this improvement was likely due

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Speaker 1: to safer than normal driving. By nineteen sixty nine, accident

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Speaker 1: and fatality rates had gone back up since H Day.

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Speaker 1: Other nations have changed what side of the road they

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Speaker 1: drive on to I'm Eve Jeffco and hopefully you know

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Speaker 1: a little more about history today than you did yesterday.

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Speaker 1: If you feel like correcting my pronunciation or my accent

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Speaker 1: on anything that I've said in the show, feel free

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Speaker 1: to leave a very kind comment on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.

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Speaker 1: At T D I h C podcast, thanks for showing up.

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Speaker 1: We'll meet here again tomorrow. For more podcasts from my

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.