Should ADRs be abolished for imported vehicles?

[cheap]

Great idea, I'm ready to sign up for an Ariel Nomad or Atom 4 (if I'm brave enough)

[OzJavelin]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

I say we drop the ADR's but accept any Japanese, American and European design regulations, as long as the car conforms to one of those then it can be registered in our market - reduce red tape so we reduce costs of bringing cars to our market.

It doesn't make sense to me you can drive a 30 year old LHD vehicle, but not a new one?

While owning two LHD cars ('65 and a '74), I kind of understand the thought process here, but basically it's to discourage the "average person" driving a LHD daily.

While it's not hard to drive a LHD vehicle amongst RHD traffic, its a very deliberate, conscious and cautious effort that most drivers wouldn't invest in as day-in-day-out. For something you drive once a week on sunny weekends without deadlines its quite doable and enjoyable.

That aside, personally I think that ADRs probably have had their day and we just get onboard with another standard.

[Fed]

We should also swap to driving on the right hand side of the road, after I'm dead.

[Citroënbender]

I’m resigned to the idea it (swapping sides) would be a sensible long term strategy.

[Fed]

I believe Sweden did it overnight.

[DJR-351]

Originally Posted by Fed

I believe Sweden did it overnight.

Not quite that simple and there was a few other factors that don't match our situation, one been approximately 90 percent of Swedes already drove left-hand drive (LHD) vehicles............

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagen_H

Dagen H (H day), today usually called "Högertrafikomläggningen" ("The right-hand traffic diversion"), was the day on 3 September 1967, in which the traffic in Sweden switched from driving on the left-hand side of the road to the right.[1] The "H" stands for "Högertrafik", the Swedish word for "right traffic". It was by far the largest logistical event in Sweden's history.[2]

[Fed]

That would have made it a lot easier for the drivers to get their heads around.
I bought a lhd car once and had to drive it 20-30 Kms in Western Sydney and I can tell you it was very unnerving to say the least.
ADR conversion included silly stuff like windscreen replacement, wiper sweep and red to orange blinkers.

[Raptor]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

I’m resigned to the idea it (swapping sides) would be a sensible long term strategy.

Sensible how? It would require all the existing highway infrastructure (on/off ramps) to be re-engineered/re-made



Never going to happen, unless society totally breaks-down and it's a post apocalyptic free for all on the highways

[DJR-351]

Originally Posted by Raptor

Sensible how? It would require all the existing highway infrastructure (on/off ramps) to be re-engineered/re-made



Never going to happen, unless society totally breaks-down and it's a post apocalyptic free for all on the highways

....worse still we will need new Ice Cream vans

[jpd80]

It's stupid to keep ADRs, how long have they been in harmonization mode and not made progress.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by Fed

We should also swap to driving on the right hand side of the road, after I'm dead.

Maybe the car enthusiast should move to a LHD country before we all die from boring cars.

[Trevor 57]

Please remember not all cars come out of Europe, some Chinese, some Thai, some South America, some Japan - do these countries all abide by the European standards?

[Nikked]

Originally Posted by Raptor

Sensible how? It would require all the existing highway infrastructure (on/off ramps) to be re-engineered/re-made



Never going to happen, unless society totally breaks-down and it's a post apocalyptic free for all on the highways

Plus new buses, garbage trucks etc.

It's just not practical to contemplate. Much better things to spend money on.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by Nikked

Plus new buses, garbage trucks etc.

Just to use these as an example....Most of the bus chassis come from LHD countries anyway. We just build the some of the bodies here and most garbage trucks are dual control these days.

Ice cream vans on the other hand, we can not do without.
Sorry back to topic

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Some may be unaware of this, but Samoa was the first country since the 1970s to swap sides. According to this article, the switch went fairly smoothly. Granted, it is not a country with the density of some of our cities nor the same population that needs to transition.

Could you imagine how poor Samoa would feel if Australia changed sides on them?

Originally Posted by DJR-351

....worse still we will need new Ice Cream vans

Easy fix. Just drive backwards

[GO FURTHER]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

I’m resigned to the idea it (swapping sides) would be a sensible long term strategy.

The biggest advantage of a RHD car is that the majority of the population is right handed and that makes one handed steering easier.

This leaves the non-dominant left hand to take care of fun stuff such as caressing female thighs in the passenger seat.

I'm lucky that I'm right handed.

[GT450]

Originally Posted by GO FURTHER

The biggest advantage of a RHD car is that the majority of the population is right handed and that makes one handed steering easier.

This leaves the non-dominant left hand to take care of fun stuff such as caressing female thighs in the passenger seat.

I'm lucky that I'm right handed.

So is your passenger...lol

[Vesper Martini]

Originally Posted by psychobimbo

Some may be unaware of this, but Samoa was the first country since the 1970s to swap sides. According to this article, the switch went fairly smoothly. Granted, it is not a country with the density of some of our cities nor the same population that needs to transition.

Could you imagine how poor Samoa would feel if Australia changed sides on them?



Easy fix. Just drive backwards

LOL Samoa. The switch was ushered in with a two-day national holiday.

[DJR-351]

Originally Posted by Bevsta007

LOL Samoa. The switch was ushered in with a two-day national holiday.

But the downside to that was.......

A two-day holiday was declared to ease traffic as people got used to the new rules. A three-day ban on alcohol sales was also introduced to deter accidents.

.....

[Nikked]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Just to use these as an example....Most of the bus chassis come from LHD countries anyway. We just build the some of the bodies here and most garbage trucks are dual control these days.

Ice cream vans on the other hand, we can not do without.
Sorry back to topic

Exaxctly...

New bodies. So every bus company would have to scrap their busses and start new...side load garbos would need new bodies.

Who would fund that? Would the government reimburse bus and garbage companies to allow them to purchase new vehicles?

I can imagine the government would also implement some silly strategy where r/h/d cars will be banned from registration unless they meet some silly criteria.

[Dr Smith]

Originally Posted by Big Trev

Please remember not all cars come out of Europe, some Chinese, some Thai, some South America, some Japan - do these countries all abide by the European standards?

Well if they come to Australia now and our regs are slowly equalizing with Europe then they do meet most EU regs already. Once we have full parity all we would have to do is state "if you don't meet EU regs you cannot import into Australia" which is no different to now where they have to meet ADR's. And I can tell you now meeting EU regs for a much larger market is more cost effective then meeting our unique ADR's and with our volume just adds to vehicle costs.

[simon varley]

Originally Posted by Big Trev

Please remember not all cars come out of Europe, some Chinese, some Thai, some South America, some Japan - do these countries all abide by the European standards?

yes actually. The Chinese regs are practically carbon copies of the ECE regs, and the Japanese have been similar for years.

nobody is saying no regs, but why not accept prior Homologation to alternate equivalent regs? Oh, wait - I forgot. This is Australia. Jobs for the boys. How long did it take to get ECE21.05 motorcycle helmets approved instead of AS ones?

[happy1]

Hi,
Having ADRs made sense while local car manufacturing was still going.

Having ADRs is still making sense for things that are specific to local conditions, for example bull bars, offroad modifications, road train rules etc, which are things you don't find in Europe.

However, increasing the harmonization with international standards from larger RHD markets such as UK and Japan makes sense to me. I agree to limit the number of LHD vehicles in some way, and things like color of side-marker lights and indicator lights should be similar to what it is now in Australia. I wouldn't allow US vehicles to suddenly be on the road with red indicator lights, and orange position lights in the headlights at the front.

There will always be resistance from the regulated motor industry to simplify the rules. Importers wants to prevent grey imports, ADR compliance guys wants to keep their jobs.

Cheers,

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by OzJavelin

While owning two LHD cars ('65 and a '74), I kind of understand the thought process here, but basically it's to discourage the "average person" driving a LHD daily.

While it's not hard to drive a LHD vehicle amongst RHD traffic, its a very deliberate, conscious and cautious effort that most drivers wouldn't invest in as day-in-day-out. For something you drive once a week on sunny weekends without deadlines its quite doable and enjoyable.

That aside, personally I think that ADRs probably have had their day and we just get onboard with another standard.

There is one particular intersection on my daily commute where doing a right hand turn would be dangerous in a LHD car - intersection of Boundary Rd and Flemington Rd in Kensington.

But you'd play it smart and just avoid it and go another way

Also Maccas drive-thru.

[Citroënbender]

But you'd play it smart and just avoid it and go another way

That’s requiring drivers to think safely, to think proactively. Outside the scope of ADRs and outside any hope a reasonable person might vest in typical Australian driver ability. :(

[hayseed]

Originally Posted by happy1

There will always be resistance from the regulated motor industry to simplify the rules. Importers wants to prevent grey imports, ADR compliance guys wants to keep their jobs.

^^^^^^^^^this^^^^^^^^^^