17 Dec 2007

Protest march in Samoa against driving on left still going ahead

11:57 am on 17 December 2007

A march is planned in Samoa tomorrow to present a petition to the government over its decision to switch to driving on the left by July.

The protest follows the prime minister's refusal to revisit the decision to change to right hand drive vehicles.

Over the weekend, the Prime Minister announced a 12 month delay to the implementation of the switch.

But the group, People Against Switching Sides, says the change poses a risk to the safety of road users.

A spokesperson for the group, Georgina Newton, is confident the demonstration will get a lot of backing:

"I've spoken to so many people and they are totally supportive, a lot of businesses are going to shut up until the march is over and there is a lot of encouraging words out there from business people, people from the rural areas, everyday people, public servants, a lot of people out there that are going to come to this march and I think that the numbers there will show and if we'll get those number then you can see it clearly this isn't a good idea."

The group hopes to gather 80,000 signatures for the petition.