The Right to have a Right-Hand-Drive Car
When does a flash mob become an organised demonstration? People gathered yesterday on the square in Almaty to protest the decision of the President to ban the cars with right-hand steering wheels in Kazakhstan. It is not about political or civic freedoms, neither does it concern the majority of people in the country. However, the event is meaningful: in an unathorized demonstration on Saturday, the drivers and their supporters in Almaty showed how social mobilisation can attract attention to disputed government decisions.
According to the President’s statement at the meeting of the Security Council, on 13 November, all right-hand drive cars will be banned from import and sale on the territory of Kazakhstan from January 1, 2007. Currently, there are 117,000 right-hand-drive cars in the country. The decision comes as an attempt to fight against the high number of accidents, and it is reported that cars with right-hand drive are more often the reason for accidents.
The demonstration was quickly organised on 18 November, just four days after the decision about the ban was made public, and it continues today. According to the 1995 law (RUS), the application on conducting the demonstration has to be submitted to the authorities 10 days before the planned demonstration. In the past, unauthorised demonstrations were prevented by a concert or celebrations, organised by the city authorities. The protests were usually followed by arrests, fines and imprisonment for up to 15 days. The owners of the right-hand drive cars did not have time to apply for a permission, and went without one.
There protests, however, are treated by the authorities without suspicion. No one was arrested so far. As LJ user megakhuimyak, who attended the demonstration, writes: “… there were (only) 3-4 policemen. One of them was approaching us constantly and asking us to leave - he said that the demonstrations were prohibited and the most active protesters would bear administrative responsibility. Taking into account that me and my wife had posters and were often taken pictures of, we might be punished. But since we are not heading for the seat of a deputy or a President, we do not really care…”.
On 100 pages of discussions on the most popular forum in Kazakhstan, people coordinate their protest activities: driving in the city with the car lights on, putting up posters, and writing open letters to the President. What is going on now looks familiar: when residents of illegally built district Shanyrak were protesting the demolition of their houses, they claimed that previously they were allowed to build and live there. Now it concerns another social group and other means of protesting; however, it is still similar - people cannot take the fact that what once was legal suddenly becomes illegal. Who knows, maybe something as simple as putting up a ribbon on a car as a sign of protest would gradually change the way of decision-making in the country.
Update: Sean Roberts had a post on protests on Friday, saying that similar protests occurred in Semipalatinsk, organised by emerging Kazakh middle class that is becoming more vocal.
Update 2: There is also an online petition on newly created site, with a photo of Nazarbayev driving a right-hand steering wheel car.
on November 20th, 2006 at 8:48 pm
When I heard of this decision, through my wife, my understanding was that only imports would be banned, that is to say current owners would not be expected to dispose of their right-side steering cars, only those who did not have one, and now wanted to obtain one, would be affected.
Also, is it not also possible that there is a different reason for the increased likelihood of an accident occurring if one of the cars in the vicinity is a right-side steering model?
It may not be the height of political correctness to pose this question, but the sort of person who is able to afford such cars may be the catlyst in this equation, not purely the side of the steering wheel…
I would be very interested if someone were to analyse the same accident stats, and include the income bracket of the people involved. If you have more money, for example, you’re more likey to have a mobile phone, than say an old Lada driver. If you’re driving and speaking on the phone, or fiddling with your nice car hi-fi, or otherwise distracted, you’re far more likely to have an accident than someone pottering along in their old Lada, who is paying more attention to the road…
However, the fact that these protests did not result in the expected ‘normal’ heavy handed approach is indeed a bright spot in my day…
on November 21st, 2006 at 7:54 am
The claims, as I heard them, were that out of the 117,000 right-hand drive cars now in the country, Almaty alone had experienced 600 auto accidents involving them so far in 2006.
Now for some shorthand: assume all of those right hand drive cars are in Almaty itself. Assume that the figure is actually for the entire year. 600 accidents for 117,000 cars (assuming each accident involved one right hand drive car with a non-right-hand-drive car) is a rate of 0.5%.
Most recent reports put Almaty’s automobile count at about 500,000. If left-hand drive cars had accidents at the same rate as right-hand-drive cars, that would be 2560 accidents so far this year in Almaty.
Of course, what has been missing in all the reporting is the number of accidents involving left hand drive cars. If somebody has that, it would be helpful in determining if there really is any link whatsoever between the import issue and auto safety.
The level of driver education in Almaty is generally very poor. Many licenses are purchased outright and many drivers have either no training or testing or merely drive as if they had none. Under those circumstances, it seems equally likely that the different driver position is something drivers are simply unable to successfully adjust for, or that compared to other factors it is simply a non-issue.
I suspect that given increasing problems of traffic and smog, this is just a convenient way of reducing the automobile count while at the same time attempting to shift business from the small, entrepreneurial used-car importers to the new car importers, many of whom are charging as much as 30% more for car they are calling new (but which is actually a 2005 year model) compared to a similarly-configured car in the U.S. market. Not all the brands are doing this, but some of the better-known dealers of new Japanese cars do this.
on November 22nd, 2006 at 12:53 am
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on November 27th, 2006 at 5:14 am
I’m a journalist in the Bahamas where right hand drive Japanese vehicles have flooded the market for the last ten years. Many arrive in very good condition and can be bought at a good price (even with the 50% import tax the government of the Bahamas charges). I heard about the Kazakhstan issue with these vehicles on the BBC and was surprised that the president was alleging they are dangerous. There has been no such report here in the Bahamas, though I intend to research accident reports (thought they, like most records, probably do not exist).
I can’t help but wonder if the president has another motive in mind by banning these vehicles. I know nothing about your country, but I’m skeptical about the underlying motive being traffic or smog as someon e suggested. Unless one of those is absolutely horrendous there….I’ve never known a government to make sweeping, contraversial decisions on the basis of the environment. I’m looking more for an economical explanation….By banning these inexpensive Japanese vehicles, is the president giving a competitive advantage in the market for a domestically produced vehicle by any chance?
Tim Schwab
on November 28th, 2006 at 1:22 am
The Government offered people to readjust their steering wheels. For that, they would use the services of several private companies. It would be expensive; besides, some cars are not suitable for this change, so if they do switch the place of the wheel, they would become more dangerous. There are reports that the equippment for readjusting the steering wheels went through the customs office in October…
on December 6th, 2006 at 8:28 am
Had a lot of fun reading the opinions of people from the West. Why was it so funny? Because none of you guys would dare to even try and register a wrong-side car in your own country. The police won’t even look at your car, let alone recognise it as being roadworthy. Look around at your local car yards, how many wrong-sided cars would you find there? None. Guess why.
on January 17th, 2007 at 10:09 pm
Interesting assumption there OZ man.
If I may just make a couple of corrections…
1) I’m from the West
2) I live in Astana
3) In the UK, you will find a sizable minority of cars that have the steering wheel on the left - the opposite side to what we normally have
4) I’ll happily drive one
5) The police, the department of transport and any other (UK) motoring organization couldn’t care what side the steering wheel is on, as long as the car is roadworthy. Registering a car from another country takes a bit longer, but the side the steering wheel is on makes no difference to the outcome of the procedure
Whilst things may be different in your country, not everywhere in the West is the same…
Not trying to flame you, just inform…