Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2024 May 5

= May 5 =

Regarding “Daraja Tuffah”
So I was reading the article for the first stage of the Israel-Hamas war, and I came across a red link with the words in the title of this question. I did a little research, and I believe this could be referring to a location between to other locations, but it’s also highly obscure.

I also looked up the location on Google Maps, but no results were found. Can this possible mistake please be corrected? 38.23.177.112 (talk) 13:19, 5 May 2024 (UTC)


 * This is the reference desk. The place to suggest changes to an article is the talk page for that article, in this case Talk:Timeline of the Israel–Hamas war (7 October – 27 October 2023). Shantavira|feed me 13:34, 5 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Al-Daraj and Tuffah are two ancient quarters of Gaza City. Israeli sources refer to the local Hamas militants as the "Daraj Tuffah Battalion". --Lambiam 16:13, 5 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Coordinates, Please? 67.71.158.219 (talk) 22:39, 5 May 2024 (UTC)
 * "Daraja Tuffah" may not be an established name for a particular area. The original CNN news article using the term quotes an IDF Telegram post mentioning "the Daraj Tuffah area", characterizing it as an area "used as a terror hub for the Hamas terrorist organization". It may not mean more than "wherever the IDF thinks the 'Daraj Tuffah Battalion' can be found". Perhaps they can provide the coordinates of the over 70 targets that they struck. --Lambiam 11:01, 6 May 2024 (UTC)
 * OpenStreetMap gives boundaries for both neighbourhoods, which appear to be contiguous. --Lambiam 11:13, 6 May 2024 (UTC)

Driving side
Are there any formal plans to switch the United Kingdom to drive on the right side or road? How likely is that the UK will drive on the right in 2050? --40bus (talk) 21:18, 5 May 2024 (UTC)
 * As likely as the USA adopting the metric system. -- Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  21:23, 5 May 2024 (UTC)


 * Why would they? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 22:43, 5 May 2024 (UTC)


 * I would very confidently state that there are no such FORMAL plans. Formal in this sense would involve government planning for such a change. It would be hard (and pointless) to keep such a proposal secret, so, no, no formal plans. Are there any formal plans to switch the USA to drive on the left side or road? HiLo48 (talk) 23:46, 5 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Not if the Republicans have anything to say about it. No lefty driving for them. (Also, no middle-of-the-road proposals either.) Clarityfiend (talk) 01:23, 6 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Yet they drive on the left side of the front seat. Unless they work for the post office. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 01:26, 6 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Regardless of which side a country uses, the driver is in the middle of the road so if the driver is rather bad at spacial recognition, the driver will hopefully not want to drift so far over that he or she is facing oncoming traffic. If the driver was on the side of the road, it would be easier to drift into opposing traffic without obviously noticing the threat. 12.116.29.106 (talk) 12:30, 7 May 2024 (UTC)
 * But if the UK changed direction, most existing vehicles would have the driver on the wrong side. Alansplodge (talk) 11:26, 15 May 2024 (UTC)
 * The UK government did look at changing in the 1960s but concluded it would be too expensive. With the increased complexity of the road system, it wouldn't have gotten cheaper in the last 50 years. Hack (talk) 02:29, 6 May 2024 (UTC)
 * And being an island country greatly reduces the pressure from neighboring countries to harmonize road systems. --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 11:01, 6 May 2024 (UTC)
 * We do have a land border with the Irish Republic, who also drive on the left. Alansplodge (talk) 11:12, 6 May 2024 (UTC)
 * By way of a reference, this 2011 BBC article, Could Britain drive on the right? points out some of the disadvantages, including that 10% of motorway junctions (freeway intersections) would have to be entirely rebuilt, all the road signs and traffic lights would have to be repositioned, one-way systems would need to be reconfigured, buses would all have their doors on the wrong side... It estimates the cost at £40 billion (almost 2% of our GDP). Alansplodge (talk) 11:21, 6 May 2024 (UTC)
 * I visited Dublin once, took a taxi from the airport. Cabdriver: "Where are you from?" Me: "Sweden." "Planning to drive here?" "No." "Good! See this roundabout coming up? Most accident prone roundabout in Ireland. People come to the airport, rent a car, and this is where they realize "Oh right... Drive on the left."" Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 13:16, 6 May 2024 (UTC)
 * There are road signs warning people to drive on the correct side, near ferry terminals in England and France, e.g. AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 14:01, 7 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Speaking of Sweden, the article Dagen H describes how Sweden switched from left to right in 1967. --Wrongfilter (talk) 15:18, 7 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Has any country switched from right to left? —Tamfang (talk) 17:17, 7 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Samoa in 2009 . --Wrongfilter (talk) 17:24, 7 May 2024 (UTC)
 * And Namibia, according to the BBC article in Alan's comment above. In 1920, following occupation by South Africa, according to our article on Left- and right-hand traffic. AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 12:33, 8 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Okinawa in Japan switched to the left in 1978: 730 (transport). —Amble (talk) 16:50, 8 May 2024 (UTC)