Just spent a great week's holiday in Southern Italy .Lots to recommend it but I reckon I saw the worst collective driving I've ever seen.
Stupid speeds, poor lane discipline, behaviour at junctions.
Seat-belt wearing less than 50% .Did not see one child strapped in the whole week, most sitting in front, often on the lap of an unbelted adult. Massive use of phones while driving, no hands-free in use , often letting go of the sheel entirely .
Combine that with some truly dreadful cars and it's like something from the stone-age
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If you were in southern Italy it IS the stone-age!
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I am currently on a job in Milan, and can confirm the comically bad and dangerous driving habits, Nearly smashed the car today when a guy did a three point turn in front of me and then swung into my lane on a dual carriageway. But the coffee, pizzas, ice cream and the women kind of make up for it.
BTW this time I took the mountain bike down on the roof, in the city I bike around, a bit scary but definitely the quickest way around the town. Everyone keep their fingers crossed on Tuesday night-I'm on at La Scala (gulp).
Cheers,
B-man
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I trust you are not a soprano B-man!
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No R-Family, a manly bass baritone, doing Barber of Seville in the newly renovated Teatro alla Scala. An absolutely unbelievable place to work, am enjoying every minute. Just don't ask for any tickets.....'love nor money' etc etc.
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Massive use of phones while driving, no hands-free in use , often letting go of the sheel entirely .
Further north, near Florence I can confirm much the same. Except it was a motorbike rider - with mobile handset held up under the side of his open face helmet with one hand and gently weaving up the road.
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Just spent a great week's holiday in Southern Italy .Lots to recommend it but I reckon I saw the worst collective driving I've ever seen. Stupid speeds, poor lane discipline, behaviour at junctions. Seat-belt wearing less than 50% .Did not see one child strapped in the whole week, most sitting in front, often on the lap of an unbelted adult. Massive use of phones while driving, no hands-free in use , often letting go of the sheel entirely . Combine that with some truly dreadful cars and it's like something from the stone-age
Isn't life expectancy there pretty good despite the poverty etc.? - Perhaps its all the dolmio/olivio we are told they eat or perhaps its the lack of worry about little laws.
Ignore the law and live longer?
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Isn't life expectancy there pretty good despite the poverty etc.? - Perhaps its all the dolmio/olivio we are told they eat or perhaps its the lack of worry about little laws.
Ignore the law and live longer?
Now that's a good point. UK has so many laws and regulations - to keep us safe, that you get stressed out trying no to break any and end up dying younger that those lucky Italians who just do what they want when they want to and couldn't care less. On top of that the weather's better.
Seriously though, I do think sometimes we are over legislated in this country at certain levels but at other levels people can away with murder (sometimes literally)
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they don't live in a nanny state like we do.
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Bizarely, I've never had any problems with the driving in Italy.
Yes it's true they drive differently to us but once you get into the swing of it it's fine. They also have much less traffic than we do and are in my experience much more polite than we are.
B-Man... what a cool job! I'm looking forward to seeing the renovated La Scala... that siad Teatro ARchimbaldi is a lovely building too.
:) JaB
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Don't expect too much different in Scala JaB, as the renovation is all technical and 'back of house' . But they have given the inside a lick of paint and it looks even better than before. I gree, the Arcimboldi theatre is amazing, but is now completely shut, with no prospect of it reopening - absolutely scandalous.
Off to take my chances in the Milano traffic on the bike now. Say a prayer.
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I agree, the Arcimboldi theatre is amazing, but is now completely shut, with no prospect of it reopening - absolutely scandalous.
Shut! no longer used?? Scandalous is right... but don't you also think somehow very Italian? :D
JaB
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Totally agree. Before going to Italy, I had this vision of Italian drivers as very fast, extremely aggressive but highly skilled.
In practice, most of drivers I saw in Italy were driving clapped out cars, very slowly and thought nothing of making use of the whole road when going round tight bends. The only quick cars were Mercs and Beemers with German plates on. The roads were fairly empty but the road surfaces were in quite poor condition apart from the Autostrada and were fairly slippy in the wet.
I think the combination of preservation in Extra virgin oil and a good soaking in Chianti has something to do with the Southern Italian style of driving.
I was disappointed that I spent a whole week in Italy without seeing a single Ferrari. In the two miles it took to travel home from Manchester Airport, I saw 3 in Hale Barns!
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I'm afraid that the experiences of a friend of mine lead me to believe that driving in the Naples area is, as you say truly dire. When waiting to turn left in the centre of the rod, cars would come from behind him & overtake! He used to wait on the right hand side of the road till it was clear, then turn left.
The big joke that he is ITALIAN! He came to live in the UK about 20 years, and used to live in the area, but he freely admitted that going back was a frightening experience and they were basically nutters!
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