H-dagurinn or Hægri dagurinn ( Icelandic: The right day) on 26 May 1968 was the day that

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

changed from left hand traffic to right hand traffic. The change itself occurred formally at 6:00 am.

History

Although Iceland had been ruled by

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

, which officially adopted driving on the right in 1793, it had continued to drive on the left; a plan to switch to right-hand traffic was interrupted by

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, when the country was under British military occupation, as military traffic was greater than that of civilians. Iceland's parliament (Alþingi) made the following demand of the government on 13 May 1964: "Alþingi urges the government to initiate as soon as possible research into how best to move the traffic to the right hand side of the road." A law was passed in 1965, under which the country would change to driving on the right in 1968. The decision by

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

to change to right hand traffic in 1967, bringing it into line with other Nordic countries, also influenced Iceland's decision. In addition, Iceland was hosting an increased number of visitors from the United States and mainland Europe. The Traffic Commission (''Umferðarnefnd'') was assigned to handle the task. The cost of the change amounted to over 33 million kronur for modifications to buses and 12 million kronur for changes to infrastructure. During the night before the change 1662 signs all over the country were changed, making the total of signs changed 5727.''Morgunblaðið'' 26. maí 1968, bls. 1
/ref> The only injury from the changeover was a boy on a bicycle who broke his leg. In accordance with

risk homeostasis Risk compensation is a theory which suggests that people typically adjust their behavior in response to perceived levels of risk, becoming more careful where they sense greater risk and less careful if they feel more protected. Although usually ...

theory, traffic accident rates briefly dropped as drivers overcompensated for the increased risk from driving on the unfamiliar side of the road, before returning to the level predicted by the trend prior to the changeover.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:H-Dagurinn Road transport in Iceland 1968 in Iceland Traffic law 1968 in transport

History

See also

References