Road Safety Laws in Australia VS The US
Australia is a popular destination for US travelers but the road safety laws differ quite a bit from the US and can be confusing to American tourists. Henry Carus is with us today to talk about how road safety laws differ between Australia and the United States and what tourists need to know to insure safe travel.
Henry, you have a unique perspective because you live in Australia but you also worked in the US as a New York City trial lawyer. What can you tell us about the differences in road safety laws in the two countries?
There is a paramount difference just because of the fact that we travel on a different side of the road. We in Australia travel on the left side of the road and in the United States they travel on the right, so anyone switching from one state or country to another has to suddenly change the whole way that they see the road, there are some quirks and some difficulties about how intersections are managed, we use a lot of roundabouts but the fact that really strikes me which is important for travelers to understand is probably the level of enforcement of the road laws, they are similar in many ways, speed, changing of lanes and things of that nature, but the enforcement level in Australia is so much higher especially in the city environments.