Generally speaking, humans tend to like round things. In fact, they actually prefer them to square, blocky objects, which is something that probably has to do with the fact that curves are more natural than straight lines.
This proclivity toward sinuous shapes seems to end when it comes to intersections, though, as the roundabouts seem to baffle more drivers than a simple crossroad. People usually tend to think that Americans are the worst at negotiating roundabouts simply because there are fewer of them where they live, and they've only been introduced in the 1990's there, as opposed to Europe, for example, where they've been in use in the current form since the 60's.
Assuming the driver in the following clip is American, however, would be ignorant and insulting toward a whole nation. The video title claims they are a tourist, something we're much more willing to accept. That's because even for a driver who has no problem dealing with roundabouts back home, whenever they end up in a country that drives on the left, that suddenly changes. Somehow, roundabouts manage to be even more difficult to process by the brain than anything else traffic-related when the sides of the road are switched.
And since this is Malta, they are. Another evidence that would support this assumption is that once the driver sees the car stopping in front of him, he doesn't swerve to the right, even though there's a whole empty lane there. Instead, he goes left. That's the kind of reflex somebody who has been driving on the right side of the road all their lives would have.
It's hard to say what exactly happened. Most likely, the Suzuki Ignis driver lost focus for a short while, failing to notice the Suzuki Swift in front had stopped until it was too late to brake. Instead, he made use of the car's off-road credentials and escalated a small dirt bump on the side of the road with their car's left side, tilting it to almost 45 degrees.
For all their lack of attention, apart from the fact they chose the wrong side, the driver's reactions were spot on. He somehow managed to squeeze through there without hitting any other vehicle, and their own car seems to have come out with minimum damage. Credit to the other drivers that were already in the roundabout who spotted him coming and stopped in time. And last but not least, credit to the Suzuki Ignis.
"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie) Full profile
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