Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

No legal avenue left to stop Samoa’s driving switch

Posted at 03:37 on 31 August, 2009 UTC

A court decision that’s cleared the path for Samoa’s road switch cannot be affected by any legal appeal, which could only happen after the roads are changed.

The lobby group People Against Switching Sides, or PASS, is still deciding whether to take further legal action.

But an appeal court wouldn’t sit until weeks after the road change, which is scheduled to go ahead on September 7.

One of the lawyers for PASS, Daryl Clarke says the supreme court judge Vui Clarence Nelson was clear in his ruling that the government was not breaching the right to life by changing from right to left hand driving.

“The court found that the evidence didn’t go far enough. There was a lot in the ruling, it was a very lengthy ruling, it was a very well thought out ruling. But at this stage we need to sit down with our clients and talk to them about what steps if any they might want to take .”

Daryl Clarke says there is a feeling in the community after the court’s decision that the switch will go ahead and people will have to adapt.