American expat reveals Australia's 'deadliest thing' in TikTok
An American expat has revealed the “deadliest” thing she’s found in Australia – and no, she’s not referring to snakes or spiders.
Meghan Marie, who uses the TikTok handle Texan_in_oz, uploaded a video last week titled “Australia’s deadliest things".
“Americans, we've always heard about the deadly, dangerous, killer animals that live in Australia. Sharks, crocodiles, box jellyfish, snakes, spiders and territorial kangaroos... But be warned,” she says in her TikTok video.
“There’s one thing that blows all of these terrifying things out of the water.”
The Texan adds “there’s no way to prepare for it” and no way you can learn to “get through it alive”.
The “nightmare” to which she is referring to is something Australian drivers encounter on almost a daily basis: the humble roundabout.
“No one can see where anyone is going,” she says.
“You can’t see across the damn thing because they fill it with trees or monuments or signs. No one uses their indicators.
“And worst of all… I mean the absolute kicker…
“We’re driving on the wrong side of the road.”
On TikTok, her video received a mix of humorous and critical responses.
“It’s really not that difficult to work out,” one man wrote.
Another woman pointed out "you don't need to see across them".
"Don't know how people can't use them," she added.
Others spruiked roundabouts calling them practical and safe.
Some used it to throw a few jabs back.
"Wrong side of the road? Not wrong, just the other side of the road like many other countries," one man wrote.
Ms Marie later clarified she didn’t have an issue with all roundabouts: just one in Lismore in NSW, which is presumably near where she is currently living.
Roundabouts in the USA
Roundabouts aren’t as common in the US as they are in Australia.
The US only introduced its first modern roundabouts in the state of Nevada in 1990, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
The IIHS claims most drivers change their opinion on roundabouts after using them and cited three communities who had them introduced, with 31 per cent of drivers supporting roundabout installation compared to 63 per cent after they were installed.
The state of New York has also adopted a “roundabout first” policy, requiring most counties and cities in the state to preference installing a roundabout when creating a new intersection or upgrading an old one.
Australian drivers struggling with roundabouts
The NRMA wrote in 2019 many Australians often drive with the “common roundabout misconception” that you should always give way to the right at the roundabout.
The rule is actually that drivers should give way to all vehicles already in the roundabout before entering regardless of if they are on the left or right.
A recent example of how many drivers don’t understand this particular road rule was when NSW Road Safety posted a trivia question in March with this scenario.
It pictured Car A entering a roundabout from the right while Car B is to the left and already begun moving through.
“Car A wants to travel straight ahead at the roundabout,” the department wrote.
“Car B has already entered the roundabout. Should Car A give way to Car B?”
A number of people answered Car A should be able to go through first, which is incorrect because Car B is already inside the roundabout.
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