Swedish Moped H-Day Information Leaflet 1967

by | Sep 3, 2022 | Mopeds, Trivia & History | 0 comments

September 3rd is a special date in Swedish automotive history. On this day in 1967, a piece of major traffic legislation came into effect – known as “Dagen H” – or “H Day.”

What Was “H-Day?”

H-Day is the name of the day when Sweden made the switch from driving on the left to the right following a referendum in 1963. That’s where the “H” comes from – it comes from the Swedish word “höger,” which translates to “right.” Anyway, this day was a huge ordeal, especially logistically. For example, on September 3rd, 1967 (aka “H-Day’):
  • Non-essential traffic was banned between 01:00-06:00 AM
  • White lines had to be pained to replace the old yellow ones
  • No less than 350,000 road signs were removed or replaced
Despite this, the switch was relatively smooth, and this famous photograph from Kungsgatan in Stockholm (seen below) immortalised the whole event:
Just look at all those cars! But forget about them.

After all, we only talk about two-wheelers (and the occasional three-wheeler) on this blog.

So what do they have to do with H Day?

Because this legislation didn’t just affect cars. Two-wheelers like mopeds also had to abide by it

And part of that involves informing people about how to ride on the right side of the road.

Enter this moped information pamphlet, titled “På moped i högertrafik” (roughly “Riding a Moped on the Right Side of the Road”).

Riding a Moped on the Right Side of the Road Pamphlet

This 16-page pamhplet was published by NFT – “Nationalföreningen för Trafiksäkerhetens Främjande” (roughly “The National Foundation for Traffic Safety”).

While there’s no actual publishing date on it, it’s most likely some time around 1966- 1967 – evidenced by the presence of the H logo from the campaign (displayed to your right) in the upper right corner.

Anyway, this pamphlet contains everything that a moped rider needs to know, including helmet safety.
pudding basin helmet
Or at least as safe as one of these “pudding basin” helmets (seen on the left) could be:
Surprisingly, however, even though the name of this pamphlet is “Riding a Moped on the Right Side of the Road,” only a few pages actually talk about things related to riding a moped on the right side of the road. More specifically, two of them (both of which are seen below:)
The info for the remaining 14 pages could just as well have applied to riding on the left side of the road, such as:
  • Don’t overtake near a zebra crossing or any other type of crosswalk
  • Park your moped at a bicycle stand (remember, this was decades before the so-called “EU-moped” arrived on the scene)
  • Keeping a good following distance to the vehicle in front

Sure – the information is valuable, but it’s incredible how little they follow the “riding a moped on the right side off the road” angle.

Strange, especially since it’s literally in the title.

I just find it strange that moped riders didn’t get more information about how such a monumental decision (one that required changing or replacing 350,000 road signs all over Sweden) would affect them.

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