Strategic advantages if Pakistan adopts "Left Hand " drive..

[Ahmet Pasha]

Agree. Traffic rules enforcement is different topic. But look at it this way. Pakistan needs better traffic enforcement with the ability to follow and chase down traffic offenders who can then arrest or fine them. Traffic offenses happen because drivers know there is little chance of them being apprehended. To apprehend traffic violators a nationwide 10,000 strong fleet of police cruisers are needed. Two man traffic marshals in fast cars can easily catch traffic violators, But police cruisers are expensive and the right hand drive cruisers are even more expensive. By going to a left hand drive the volume production of such vehicles makes them much cheaper.

Additionally the "million dollar" questions:
Do we want to open our road network to an enemy nation that would just love to use our roads for a military and commercial foot print in Central Asia and beyond?
Do we want to make it difficult for our only ally to support us logistically?

Beautiful!
One advantage with electric cars is that they can be converted very quickly.

Frankly speaking, it's a passionate idea but as mentioned earlier, it's not cost effective. How many Pakistani drive to other countries?
So rather than applying new rule on masses it would be smart to improve driver licensing procedure. Especially those who drive heavy-duty vehicles. Incentives can be given to cargo industry like duty free left hand trailers and semis stationed near border on cheap secured parkings where containers can be moved to the other left hand vehicle with their own drivers.

I think the best argument in favor of the switch would be that we would be integrated into LHD car manufaturer supply chain. Adding scale, bringing in new players in car market, making cars more cheaper(a SantaFe cost 1.5crore pkr in Pakistan for that money I can easily buy a Gallardo or R8) and improving consumer satisfaction by removing dabba quality RHD cars sold in Pakistan by Japanese and Chinese.

So in essence it'd be easier for more companies to enter Pakistan market.

Excellent idea on having trailers switching to countries compatible cabs and China is already doing that with Hong Kong and Pakistan.
But it still a time consuming process.
Looking to the future with peace and stability , wouldn't it be nice for Pakistanis to be able to drive to Turkey via Iran or drive to Uzbekistan via Afghanistan?
Most importantly have free traffic of goods fromChina
Pakistan would have the advantages of low priced modern automobiles, and get millions off their two wheelers.
A map below shows how the world is predominantly left hand drive.
View attachment 691223

Pakistani truck drivers need to be given sleeper cabs and hours of service laws governing their drive and rest time. Pakistani truck driver community/profession is a threat to their own and others' lives on the road.

2 stories. When I got my US visa, we sold everything and were taking our remaining stuff from RWP to LHR. The truck driver said he has not slept properly in 3 days. On the way to Lahore there were 3 instances we almost died. Once he was headed straight into one of those thick old huge trees on the roadside. Second he almost flew over a flyover(no pun intended) on Gujranwala bypass(yes it was GT road bad idea I know). Then he missed an exit for Lahore instead took exit for Sheikhupura. My mom offered 2 rakah nafal when we got home safely.

2nd story. My chacha died from a truck accident. He was on his motorcycle. The driver escaped. Never found. He was only visiting Pakistan for a business deal.

Trucks also need weights limits governed/enforced because trucks have ruined GT Road especially. They will harm motorway too. But motorway is fairly new. NATO traffic also played a huge role in GT Road's ruin to the extent you can clearly see truck axles indentation on the asphalt surface on GT road. It forms a clear depression in the road.

I was a driver myself for about a year. I know firsthand how dangerous micro sleep can be. If your eyes close for 1 minute you can travel 3 football field if not more.

A few months back I believe Murad Saeed looked into this issue but some bloody paindoo zameendar Tranport Union Leader started lobbying against it. And I was looking at that idiot like "Seriously?? WTF?? Those refoms could have saved so many lives cuz of hours of service laws and tax money spent on road repairs cuz of overloaded trucks and tractor trolleys."

This needs attention.

Edit: damn auto correct

 

[AWAITED1]

I think government can give 10 year ultimatum to switch. So people have reasonable time for switch. Meanwhile improve licensing procedure and law enforcement. License should be tougher and almost unobtainable. Driving without license should be treated as criminal offense as it threaten others life. Parents and guardians of minors should be penalized, if minors found driving. During this time a during test before approval of driving should be taken both in RHD and LHD., etc

Excellent idea on having trailers switching to countries compatible cabs and China is already doing that with Hong Kong and Pakistan.
But it still a time consuming process.
Looking to the future with peace and stability , wouldn't it be nice for Pakistanis to be able to drive to Turkey via Iran or drive to Uzbekistan via Afghanistan?
Most importantly have free traffic of goods fromChina
Pakistan would have the advantages of low priced modern automobiles, and get millions off their two wheelers.
A map below shows how the world is predominantly left hand drive.
View attachment 691223

 

[Baibars_1260]

I think the best argument in favor of the switch would be that we would be integrated into LHD car manufaturer supply chain. Adding scale, bringing in new players in car market, making cars more cheaper(a SantaFe cost 1.5crore pkr in Pakistan for that money I can easily buy a Gallardo or R8) and improving consumer satisfaction by removing dabba quality RHD cars sold in Pakistan by Japanese and Chinese.

So in essence it'd be easier for more companies to enter Pakistan market.


Pakistani truck drivers need to be given sleeper cabs and hours of service laws governing their drive and rest time. Pakistani truck driver community/profession is a threat to their own and others' lives on the road.

2 stories. When I got my US visa, we sold everything and were taking our remaining stuff from RWP to LHR. The truck driver said he has not slept properly in 3 days. On the way to Lahore there were 3 instances we almost died. Once he was headed straight into one of those thick old huge trees on the roadside. Second he almost flew over a flyover(no pun intended) on Gujranwala bypass(yes it was GT road bad idea I know). Then he missed an exit for Lahore instead took exit for Sheikhupura. My mom offered 2 rakah nafal when we got home safely.

2nd story. My chacha died from a truck accident. He was on his motorcycle. The driver escaped. Never found. He was only visiting Pakistan for a business deal.

Trucks also need weights limits governed/enforced because trucks have ruined GT Road especially. They will harm motorway too. But motorway is fairly new. NATO traffic also played a huge role in GT Road's ruin to the extent you can clearly see truck axles indentation on the asphalt surface on GT road. It forms a clear depression in the road.

I was a driver myself for about a year. I know firsthand how dangerous micro sleep can be. If your eyes close for 1 minute you can travel 3 football field if not more.

A few months back I believe Murad Saeed looked into this issue but some bloody paindoo zameendar Tranport Union Leader started lobbying against it. And I was looking at that idiot like "Seriously?? WTF?? Those refoms could have saved so many lives cuz of hours of service laws and tax money spent on road repairs cuz of overloaded trucks and tractor trolleys."

This needs attention.

Edit: damn auto correct

Agree again. There is also a huge used car market of LHD cars, trucks, and SUVs. The USA alone sends millions of serviceable cars to the salvage simply because overhauling them is too expensive given the labor cost. Cars are scrapped because the engines need new piston rings, the auto transmission needs a new shifter or the suspensions need rework with the bushings. With auto mechanic labor rates far cheaper in Pakistan some of this huge inventory of scrapped cars going into the crushers could be overhauled and certified for use in Pakistan. With fuel injector and piston ring change those engines would easily give another 160,000 km. The salvage value of these cars are $500 or Rs.75.000. In Pakistan the repairs could cost $3000 . The value of a refurbished LHD car would cost $3500 or Rs 5,25,000
We are looking at a robust 2010 Ford Escape SUV or a Chevy Malibu.

Drivers need education and police need support and equipment.
My mother was killed in a car accident too. This was " side swipe" by a Pajero. Her driver lost control of the Mehran, and climbed the median crashing into the lamp pole. This was right in the town about 300 meters from the police station when she had gone to just pickup some groceries. The criminal driver was never traced.

 

[Ghessan]

how would people switch their vehicle? i mean can they afford it? i don't think car under use can be converted to left hand on such a massive scale as there are millions of cars on the roads.
anyone?

 

[Signalian]

First teach the basics:

1. Lane driving
2. Over taking etiquettes
3. Roundabout ethics of giving way to vehs coming from right side
4. Bike lane and truck lane
5. Public transport lane including rickshaws

Traffic fines starting from Rs.5000 can ensure all this.

 

[Ghessan]

First teach the basics:

1. Lane driving
2. Over taking etiquettes
3. Roundabout ethics of giving way to vehs coming from right side
4. Bike lane and truck lane
5. Public transport lane including rickshaws

Traffic fines starting from Rs.5000 can ensure all this.

that's very true, a disciplined and educated nation can be expected for such changes no matter how huge they are which an undisciplined can mess up.

 

[Baibars_1260]

that's very true, a disciplined and educated nation can be expected for such changes no matter how huge they are which an undisciplined can mess up.

I linked a video in my previous post here showing how Sweden converted. We don't necessarily follow the Swedish method but certain aspects of it can be adopted.
Does anyone have any information how Myanmar managed the switch?

 

[NAVDEEP DHALIWAL]

I don't get the benefit of switching. Driving experience is the same.
If you got money manufacturers will come right or left.
And you could get cheaper cars in India as compared to abroad.
Neither I see the benefit to pakistan vs india as well.
I have seen people import left hand drive in US very common.
Same with India, You will be surprised to know that India's tatra imported Military Trucks are right hand drive lol.

 

[Invicta]

I linked a video in my previous post here showing how Sweden converted. We don't necessarily follow the Swedish method but certain aspects of it can be adopted.
Does anyone have any information how Myanmar managed the switch?

There is more of a case of implementing good practices in driving license acquisition and driver training.
Get a system in place that produces good educated drivers and enforcement will follow suite. I don't get why you would change the system from Right to Left or vice versa.

I drive in the UK and go to France, Belgium at least once every 2-3 months, adapting from one side of the road to the other is never a issue. In my last job I spent months in Italy driving using left hand drive vehicles. No problem, driven a manual and an automatic in both settings again no issues.

An easier solution would be for Pakistan to get an understanding with China or any country it wishes it's drivers to use. LIkewise any one from mainland Europe can cross the chanel and drive in the UK because standards are similar and common understanding between countries is present to allow this.

You do have a valid case when you point to the rail network.

 

[Baibars_1260]

I don't get the benefit of switching. Driving experience is the same.
If you got money manufacturers will come right or left.
And you could get cheaper cars in India as compared to abroad.
Neither I see the benefit to pakistan vs india as well.
I have seen people import left hand drive in US very common.
Same with India, You will be surprised to know that India's tatra imported Military Trucks are right hand drive lol.

Navdeep,
It is precisely the reason, we don't want Indian Army Tatra trucks on our roads, and we also don't want your Mahindra Boleros and Tata Indigos that we want to switch to left hand drive cars.
The auto-mobile industry of China is the largest in the world
In 2019, approximately 21.36 million passenger cars and 4.36 million commercial vehicles had been produced in China. With a production volume of about 23.53 million passenger cars, China ranked first among countries with the largest production of passenger cars in 2018.
We have a far greater benefit linking our automobiles sector with China than with an enemy nation whose automobile industry has declined 42% over the last year and makes unreliable inefficient cars that sell nowhere outside India. The fact that these cars are RHD is of no consequence.
We will buy and co-produce the Dong Feng trucks for our armed forces and we will coproduce the electric BYDs, and Geely cars for our people. Converting to Left Hand Drive and changing our railways to 1435 mm gauge we will sever the last remnant of our transport systems legacy we shared with India.

There is more of a case of implementing good practices in driving license acquisition and driver training.
Get a system in place that produces good educated drivers and enforcement will follow suite. I don't get why you would change the system from Right to Left or vice versa.

I drive in the UK and go to France, Belgium at least once every 2-3 months, adapting from one side of the road to the other is never a issue. In my last job I spent months in Italy driving using left hand drive vehicles. No problem, driven a manual and an automatic in both settings again no issues.

An easier solution would be for Pakistan to get an understanding with China or any country it wishes it's drivers to use. LIkewise any one from mainland Europe can cross the chanel and drive in the UK because standards are similar and common understanding between countries is present to allow this.

You do have a valid case when you point to the rail network.

The UK is an anomaly, both in terms of its economic trade and transport policy ( Brexit? ) . I have pointed to the case where Sweden changed over and why. Even with the ferry and channel tunnel the number of cars freely traveling back and forth from U.K. to Europe is a fraction of the traffic that goes between European states like Germany and Austria for example where the excellent Autobahn network and common driving rules make travel a delight. Most of my U.K. friends rent a car in Europe rather than putting their RHD cars on a ferry. As a North American resident I visit the U.K. often, and I find a stark difference between Britain's M1 and the USA I-90. The M1 is a "bumper to bumper" case with roundabouts. Because of my South Asian origin I can make the RIght Hand Drive " switch " which my American colleagues are hesitant to do. While I rent cars in the U.K. my American colleagues use cabs, Lyft, and public transport.

Being an island anyway ( more so with Brexit) the U.K. can afford to stick to its RHD laws that it imposed on its colonies. Personal ownership of cars with two car families is far less in number in the UK than in the USA. Heavily taxed, low volume RHD cars made in UK are extremely expensive as compared to their North American counterparts.
Pakistan is no longer a colony and to avail of low cost large scale LHD car production in the largest automobile industry in the world which is right next door in China is an obvious choice.
Denying a hostile nation the use of our roads to access territories beyond into Central Asia also makes sense.

 

[Invicta]

Navdeep,
It is precisely the reason, we don't want Indian Army Tatra trucks on our roads, and we also don't want your Mahindra Boleros and Tata Indigos that we want to switch to left hand drive cars.
The auto-mobile industry of China is the largest in the world
In 2019, approximately 21.36 million passenger cars and 4.36 million commercial vehicles had been produced in China. With a production volume of about 23.53 million passenger cars, China ranked first among countries with the largest production of passenger cars in 2018.
We have a far greater benefit linking our automobiles sector with China than with an enemy nation whose automobile industry has declined 42% over the last year and makes unreliable inefficient cars that sell nowhere outside India. The fact that these cars are RHD is of no consequence.
We will buy and co-produce the Dong Feng trucks for our armed forces and we will coproduce the electric BYDs, and Geely cars for our people. Converting to Left Hand Drive and changing our railways to 1435 mm gauge we will sever the last remnant of our transport systems legacy we shared with India.

The UK is an anomaly, both in terms of its economic trade and transport policy ( Brexit? ) . I have pointed to the case where Sweden changed over and why. Even with the ferry and channel tunnel the number of cars freely traveling back and forth from U.K. to Europe is a fraction of the traffic that goes between European states like Germany and Austria for example where the excellent Autobahn network and common driving rules make travel a delight. Most of my U.K. friends rent a car in Europe rather than putting their RHD cars on a ferry. As a North American resident I visit the U.K. often, and I find a stark difference between Britain's M1 and the USA I-90. The M1 is a "bumper to bumper" case with roundabouts. Because of my South Asian origin I can make the RIght Hand Drive " switch " which my American colleagues are hesitant to do. While I rent cars in the U.K. my American colleagues use cabs, Lyft, and public transport.

Being an island anyway ( more so with Brexit) the U.K. can afford to stick to its RHD laws that it imposed on its colonies. Personal ownership of cars with two car families is far less in number in the UK than in the USA. Heavily taxed, low volume RHD cars made in UK are extremely expensive as compared to their North American counterparts.
Pakistan is no longer a colony and to avail of low cost large scale LHD car production in the largest automobile industry in the world which is right next door in China is an obvious choice.
Denying a hostile nation the use of our roads to access territories beyond into Central Asia also makes sense.

I think you have a very acute understanding of the volume of traffic between UK and EU.
Read the attached, this is for 2019 and notice the amount of vehicles from EU (left hand drive) entering UK (right hand drive). This is freight alone. If you care to show me data that this figure is a fraction of traffic between Germany and Austria I might be convinced.

German Autobhans are not what they used to be I drive to Munich for Oktoberfest every year so I know. The old myth of unlimited speed is long gone, even is stretches of Autobhan where legally speed in unenforced you will be hard pushed to maintain over 90mph because the traffic doesn't allow any more speed.

As you have said you are a North American resident you are towing the very American view of British Stereotype. M1 is extremely better than I-90, I-90 has much more in common to the M25 which is always bumper to bumper. No of cars in UK household varies depending on where you live, In the South I have 6 (large family mostly adults so they need to drive to/from work) if I was in London I would only need one.

I could argue that pound for pound RHD cars manufactured in Pakistan are even more expensive than UK.
Affordability wise, my yearly salary is enough to buy a brand new Mercedes E class, I know I will not be able to afford the equivalent type car in Pakistan from a years salary.

The issue with Pakistani Automobile industry has nothing to do with RHD or LHD, its purely to do with greed and the current Mafia that controls the industry, importing from China does not help Pakistan at all. Pakistan needs new brands to operate inland and break the current monopoly. They can easily make RHD cars as well as LHD.

Coming back to topic, if your sole reason for changing from RHD to LDH is to stifle India then let me assure you that while they might be lacking in morality/ethics as a community they will have no problems driving on the opposite side of the road if they were to invade.

As I also said before you have a better case to align the railway network with China. It can be done and should be done.

 

[AWAITED1]

I drove from Norway to Sweden then Denmark and Netherland. It was fun drive without any problem. In UK I was triggering wipers when I was going to give indicators on turns.. It's confusing first day but I adopted to RHD quickly.. My ride from Manchester to Birmingham was at night I was driving at speed limit and frankly everyone was overtaking me like a car overtakes pedestrian. Lane wise roads aren't wide enough but suitable for local consumption. German autobahn is a class above.. Even a drive from Rotterdam to Amsterdam in small Netherlands impressed me so much when I was in 6 lanes undecided which one to adopt. Realize later that right 2 were going to turn right [emoji23] and yes driving RHD cars in Europe isn't easy. Especially if you aren't on motorway but highway. On narrow roads overtaking is frustrating sometimes

Navdeep,
It is precisely the reason, we don't want Indian Army Tatra trucks on our roads, and we also don't want your Mahindra Boleros and Tata Indigos that we want to switch to left hand drive cars.
The auto-mobile industry of China is the largest in the world
In 2019, approximately 21.36 million passenger cars and 4.36 million commercial vehicles had been produced in China. With a production volume of about 23.53 million passenger cars, China ranked first among countries with the largest production of passenger cars in 2018.
We have a far greater benefit linking our automobiles sector with China than with an enemy nation whose automobile industry has declined 42% over the last year and makes unreliable inefficient cars that sell nowhere outside India. The fact that these cars are RHD is of no consequence.
We will buy and co-produce the Dong Feng trucks for our armed forces and we will coproduce the electric BYDs, and Geely cars for our people. Converting to Left Hand Drive and changing our railways to 1435 mm gauge we will sever the last remnant of our transport systems legacy we shared with India.

The UK is an anomaly, both in terms of its economic trade and transport policy ( Brexit? ) . I have pointed to the case where Sweden changed over and why. Even with the ferry and channel tunnel the number of cars freely traveling back and forth from U.K. to Europe is a fraction of the traffic that goes between European states like Germany and Austria for example where the excellent Autobahn network and common driving rules make travel a delight. Most of my U.K. friends rent a car in Europe rather than putting their RHD cars on a ferry. As a North American resident I visit the U.K. often, and I find a stark difference between Britain's M1 and the USA I-90. The M1 is a "bumper to bumper" case with roundabouts. Because of my South Asian origin I can make the RIght Hand Drive " switch " which my American colleagues are hesitant to do. While I rent cars in the U.K. my American colleagues use cabs, Lyft, and public transport.

Being an island anyway ( more so with Brexit) the U.K. can afford to stick to its RHD laws that it imposed on its colonies. Personal ownership of cars with two car families is far less in number in the UK than in the USA. Heavily taxed, low volume RHD cars made in UK are extremely expensive as compared to their North American counterparts.
Pakistan is no longer a colony and to avail of low cost large scale LHD car production in the largest automobile industry in the world which is right next door in China is an obvious choice.
Denying a hostile nation the use of our roads to access territories beyond into Central Asia also makes sense.

 

[NAVDEEP DHALIWAL]

Navdeep,
It is precisely the reason, we don't want Indian Army Tatra trucks on our roads, and we also don't want your Mahindra Boleros and Tata Indigos that we want to switch to left hand drive cars.
The auto-mobile industry of China is the largest in the world
In 2019, approximately 21.36 million passenger cars and 4.36 million commercial vehicles had been produced in China. With a production volume of about 23.53 million passenger cars, China ranked first among countries with the largest production of passenger cars in 2018.
We have a far greater benefit linking our automobiles sector with China than with an enemy nation whose automobile industry has declined 42% over the last year and makes unreliable inefficient cars that sell nowhere outside India. The fact that these cars are RHD is of no consequence.
We will buy and co-produce the Dong Feng trucks for our armed forces and we will coproduce the electric BYDs, and Geely cars for our people. Converting to Left Hand Drive and changing our railways to 1435 mm gauge we will sever the last remnant of our transport systems legacy we shared with India.

The UK is an anomaly, both in terms of its economic trade and transport policy ( Brexit? ) . I have pointed to the case where Sweden changed over and why. Even with the ferry and channel tunnel the number of cars freely traveling back and forth from U.K. to Europe is a fraction of the traffic that goes between European states like Germany and Austria for example where the excellent Autobahn network and common driving rules make travel a delight. Most of my U.K. friends rent a car in Europe rather than putting their RHD cars on a ferry. As a North American resident I visit the U.K. often, and I find a stark difference between Britain's M1 and the USA I-90. The M1 is a "bumper to bumper" case with roundabouts. Because of my South Asian origin I can make the RIght Hand Drive " switch " which my American colleagues are hesitant to do. While I rent cars in the U.K. my American colleagues use cabs, Lyft, and public transport.

Being an island anyway ( more so with Brexit) the U.K. can afford to stick to its RHD laws that it imposed on its colonies. Personal ownership of cars with two car families is far less in number in the UK than in the USA. Heavily taxed, low volume RHD cars made in UK are extremely expensive as compared to their North American counterparts.
Pakistan is no longer a colony and to avail of low cost large scale LHD car production in the largest automobile industry in the world which is right next door in China is an obvious choice.
Denying a hostile nation the use of our roads to access territories beyond into Central Asia also makes sense.

You didn't get me.

India military trucks are right hand drive the imported ones, and they drive on left side in India no problems.
By switching you will actually help them. Lol
You should research Indian auto industry, its shaped according to local needs, its not low quality.
And you are giving reason 4 switching sitting EU countries while you don't want to do anything with India lol, see the irony? They switched to increase trade and easy traveling.

Now 4 china its more economical to send goods by Sea route than Trucks. Its a universal truth, trade is always cheaper when sea routes are used. So this argument doesn't mean anything, when only country you can have road trade is out of picture. I.e, india.

Only reason left is cheaper cars, China will kill your industry in few years if you allow cheap imports, China is way too powerful in mass productions.

 

[Baibars_1260]

I think you have a very acute understanding of the volume of traffic between UK and EU.
Read the attached, this is for 2019 and notice the amount of vehicles from EU (left hand drive) entering UK (right hand drive). This is freight alone. If you care to show me data that this figure is a fraction of traffic between Germany and Austria I might be convinced.

German Autobhans are not what they used to be I drive to Munich for Oktoberfest every year so I know. The old myth of unlimited speed is long gone, even is stretches of Autobhan where legally speed in unenforced you will be hard pushed to maintain over 90mph because the traffic doesn't allow any more speed.

As you have said you are a North American resident you are towing the very American view of British Stereotype. M1 is extremely better than I-90, I-90 has much more in common to the M25 which is always bumper to bumper. No of cars in UK household varies depending on where you live, In the South I have 6 (large family mostly adults so they need to drive to/from work) if I was in London I would only need one.

I could argue that pound for pound RHD cars manufactured in Pakistan are even more expensive than UK.
Affordability wise, my yearly salary is enough to buy a brand new Mercedes E class, I know I will not be able to afford the equivalent type car in Pakistan from a years salary.

The issue with Pakistani Automobile industry has nothing to do with RHD or LHD, its purely to do with greed and the current Mafia that controls the industry, importing from China does not help Pakistan at all. Pakistan needs new brands to operate inland and break the current monopoly. They can easily make RHD cars as well as LHD.

Coming back to topic, if your sole reason for changing from RHD to LDH is to stifle India then let me assure you that while they might be lacking in morality/ethics as a community they will have no problems driving on the opposite side of the road if they were to invade.

As I also said before you have a better case to align the railway network with China. It can be done and should be done.

As we have deviated from the topic somewhat I will first begin with addressing the issue concerning Pakistan and then discuss foreign traffic in the UK as given by the UNCE and RAC UK in a separate post.
1. Traffic management:
It is acknowledged that Pakistan has serious traffic management problems, which needs reforms. These reforms are not just implemented by a stricter enforcement of laws but just as other aspects of Pakistani society require a change in the mindset. No amount of laws will work if the majority of the population is determined to break them, The situation is no better ( in fact far worse) in Pakistan's western and eastern neighbors, but that should be of little comfort for us .
2. The Pakistani automobile mafia.
There are mafias in every section of Pakistani society and the automobile industry has its mafia too. But like all mafias this mafia has to be broken in the national interest. Converting to Left Hand Drive will degrade the links between the RHD Japanese monopoly and the Pakistani mafia after there is competition from lower priced LHD Chinese vehicles. Switching to Chinese vehicles as they go electric will save Pakistan billions of rupees in fuel as well as foreign exchange as China Pakistan trade switches to Yuan as a currency. Japan's automobile industry has a huge advantage because they make a large variety of right hand drive cars whereas other countries don't. This monopoly has choked the availability of low priced cars in Pakistan. It is time this monopoly was broken.
3. Stifling India :
I agree that a switch to a Left Hand Drive system is unlikely to deter Indian military logistics in the hypothetical case they do breach our frontiers and capture our highway network. Yes, they will drive on the right side of the road or quickly impose a reversal to driving on the left. When Argentina invaded the Falklands ( 1982) they did just that, and so did the Germans when they captured the Channel Islands from UK in World War 2. What is important here is removing India's pressure to access Afghanistan and Central Asia through by civilian freight traffic. Pakistan has "off and on" restricted India in access to Afghanistan but a small number of Indian trucks do drive straight through into Pakistan and on in to Afghanistan from Wagah under the pretense of "mutual trade". This should be stopped anyway as it is a serious security risk. Converting to left hand drive is a minor but still relevant tool in making the passage of Indian traffic more difficult.
It may be precisely this reason that Myanmar converted to left hand drive even though it continues to operate a vast majority of right hand drive vehicles.
3. Our strategic alliance with China:
China's assistance to our transport infrastructure above and beyond CPEC does not need to be repeated here. China is accommodating to different driving standards, It has not imposed the Right Hand Side driving rule in Hong Kong when it very well could have. However Pakistan is much larger than Hong Kong and is a sovereign independent nation.
China's has a huge middle class with growing purchasing power and are increasingly becoming a part of the global tourist traffic. Pakistan has beautiful tourist locations in the mountains and coast line that remain untapped. Changing our driving rules will make Pakistan open to Chinese traffic that will open up spots like Naran and Golden Beach in Gwadar.
Conclusion:
There is no advantage in persisting with RHD vehicles and left side driving on the road. The advantages, strategic, economic and people to people contact with our allies are obvious.

 

[akshay gehlot]

Nobody is talking about what will happen to the hundreds of thousands of cars/trucks/buses already bought and running on the road ,

Changing them to LHD would too expensive , Plus nobody would be willing to pay that much extra . You could wait for them to get old and slowly phase them out but that would mean waiting a minimum of 15-20 years more . running cars and buses with the opposite side doors in the meantime would be a massive safety hazard (Buses would be letting people down towards traffic instead of towards sidewalk/footpath.


The strategic advantage vis-a vis India is shaky at best , incoming armies and occupying militaries don't give a big deal about who drives where (especially in a war like situation ) , Heck some of India's imported trucks are actually already LHD .

The only real argument is cheaper cars but its much better to try to colaborate with the Chinese and start producing your own rather than try this scheme ,