Welcome back, due to my lack of ideas (or laziness), I will be continuing a Foreigner’s Perspective in the form of monthly rants about a single topic that I find annoying and/or weird. I’m not sure what day I’ll be posting these on, but I’ll get them out eventually. 

These posts are meant for comedic purposes only, America isn’t the worst country in the world.

Weird American Thing of the Month #1: Roundabouts

Roads. American roads have always been quite an adventure to traverse. McDonald’s as far as the eye can see, drive-thrus crammed with monstrous vehicles desperately struggling to fit under the height limit. 

Although one misused laneway structure may surpass all of the horrors of the American transport system: the roundabout. Why the bloody hell does no one know how to use roundabouts here? 

In case you didn’t know, which you probably don’t, roundabouts are meant to keep traffic constantly flowing. Though that is its intended purpose, people have somehow managed to turn this incredible assortment of concrete and paint into a hindrance. 

I never see people properly use their turn signals to indicate where they are getting off. I don’t think people realize how bloody confusing it is when people don’t use turn signals. “You going that way? Ah, wait no. He’s taking another lap.” 

According to the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety, roundabouts were introduced to the USA in the 1990s, although they are not as widespread in the USA as they are in other countries. Due to this, people tend to treat roundabouts like stop lights, because that’s what Americans are used to. 

This is why I have joyous experiences such as people stopping in the middle of a roundabout to let other people in. The insanity just never ends. 

IN THE HALLS:

“It seems like in the United States we use stop lights and stop signs more than we use roundabouts, so when there is a roundabout people do not know how to use it or do not know how to use it correctly.”

-English language arts teacher Mary Hurst

“A lot of people don’t know how to use them because roundabouts only recently became popular here.”

-sophomore Madalyn Britt