Whenever a travel show, like Rick Steves, shows traffic in Italy, especially someplace like Naples, there is always the implications that, wow, those Italian drivers are nuts!
But after having been in Italy for 2 weeks, and having ridden in several cabs, watched a lot of traffic, and walked around and through the traffic, I was really impressed. First, driving conditions are generally terrible by US standards - no lanes are marked and there are way too many cars for the space available. But they make it work, and it seems to work based on two factors: everyone is paying really close attention to what they are doing, and every driver knows exactly how big his car is. They have to maneuver in and around other cars, they have to know how far they can go and no further, and they have to trust that the other drivers know what they are doing too. There’s no such concept as “cutting off” another driver. If there’s a small gap between cars, expect another car to push into it. If someone has to turn right out of a traffic circle from the wrong lane, expect them to nudge their way into where they have to go. If someone isn’t right off the mark when a light turns green, they should expect to hear a beep or two behind them. If a pedestrian walks out in front of you, you’re going to give them just barely enough room to get out of the way before you continue on.
So many US drivers seem to be afraid of their cars, and to think that they are 3x their actual size. They also seem to think that they have a right to drive unimpeded by other traffic. I saw nothing like that in Italy, with a wide range of car sizes from tiny cars to big buses. That reminds me, special props to the tour bus drivers who have to do this in big double-decker buses every day and all day. I truly don’t know how they do it.
Just my observations after seeing it up close and personal. I’d love to hear a perspective from anyone who has actually driven in an Italian city (I don’t think I would try it myself).
The culture that has consistently produced the most sought-after cars and skilled racing drivers in the world, I would say they know maybe a bit more about cars than Americans do. I’ve found American drivers to have gotten far worse in the past 10-odd years. When I began driving independently, at age 16, the year was 2003 and from then until about 2011 I do not recall driving as being an aggravating pain in the ass at all. It was at some time after that point that I started noticing drivers on the road getting progressively more careless; distracted; and slower. I can’t stress the last one enough. I find most drivers in America today, to be miserably slow off the line when lights turn green. Drivers timidly inch their way across intersections while the line of cars behind them is delayed, and people randomly slow down in traffic for no reason. It coincided directly with the increasing use of smartphones.
And pedestrians. The hardest adjustment for me when I’m in the US is remembering that cars think I don’t have the right to cross the road, even if I’m at a traffic light and it’s green for me.
The only complaint I have about Italians is that when they are in a road with multiple lanes to a side, they tend to think those white lines should mark the middle of the car. Once they figure that out they drive just fine.
Russia, for example. Everhyone has seen the Russian dashcam videos. But in Russia, virtually every car has a dashcam, as a defense against an epidemic of insurance scams, and therefore, every Russian traffic event gets recoreded. The fact there are so few of them is a testament to their rarity.
Several years ago I was in the Russian driving environment, riding with a variety of drivers an varyuing conditions. It didn’t seem that scary, once you realized that everyone is in the same arena, following the same rules of self protection.
A Russian driver wouldn’t last a minute in American traffic, because all the other drivers, instead of just making space for him, would thrown their hands in the air and scream OMG.
I assume a lot of the mad driving in cities is due to the fact that most of those roads were in place before cars came along so they’re not really fit for the current purpose and everyone has to make do.
Driving in the mountain roads in Italy is eye-opening though, I’ll be driving fairly slowly, trying to keep away from the sheer 100 foot drop to the side when a bus or truck will careen down the road the other way with no regard for anyone’s safety, especially their own…you quite often see cars at the bottom of those drops…I don’t know whether they’re constantly crashing or if it’s that no-one bothers to move the cars that go over but it’s fairly disconcerting.
anecdotal, having driven a lot in quite a few countries.
My base level is the UK and to be honest, the standard is the best that I’ve come across anywhere. Our test is pretty strict and even though the roads are often narrow, crowded and we drive fast and have no jaywalking laws (or at least none that are ever practically enforced), we have a very low level of road deaths.
France and Belgium are not great (apart from the uncrowded toll roads in France, which are bliss) A high level of poor lane discipline
Germany, good on the whole but the high speed differentials on some Autobahns can be disconcerting
Austria - good standards, excellent road quality and discipline but fucking tractors EVERYWHERE! Signage of limits can be a bit unclear and I’ve had one fine and one telling-off for speeding and overtaking in the wrong place, but the police were an absolute delight.
Switzerland - good standards, excellent roads but an iron fist and no sense of humour. (unlike the Austrians)
Italy? - schizophrenic. Out on the standard two-lanes and autostrada it is absolutely fine. Not substantially different from any other European country. In the big cities? mental. You’ll not see a car without at least one little bump or scrape. It is dog-eat-pancetta out there and the weak will suffer, not actually harmed in any way but certainly a harsh gesticulation is coming your way. You have to learn to not take it personally or it’ll crush you.
I’ve driven (briefly) in Italy, my wife did most of the driving in Rome, Naples, and Amalfi. It’s pretty hectic in the cities and the Amalfi Coast is just intense driving, we didn’t find the drivers to be particular bad. They’re city drivers who know where they’re going and want to get there fast. Coming from Boston, it’s generally the same vibe, only in Italy the cars are smaller and the lanes less well defined. We both drove in northern Italy and the driving there was pretty normal for someone from Boston.
It’s nothing like driving in Bangalore India - the drivers there are truly insane and magnificent.
Everything I ever needed to know about driving, I learned growing up in Montreal. I’m never more comfortable traveling than when I’m behind the wheel. I look forward to driving in Italy later this year: “Whatsa behind me, I don’t care! Andiamo!”
In USA, the automatic transmission is slowing our world down exponentially vs. rest of world. There is no penalty to come to a complete stop, while motivation is high with a manual trans to keep moving and keep a flow/rhythm going. This is very overlooked.
Further, manual trans and small cars = spirited driving. It.Just.Does.
Movement is good, but to Americans the non-stop movement looks crazy. It isn’t.
There’s no way that automatic transmissions play a larger role in slowing everyone down, than the prevalence of smartphones and the oft-disregarded advice of fucking off of your phone while you’re driving. I see it again and again. I’m three cars behind someone stopped at a red light. During this pause in the driving, he or she is taking the opportunity to put ears or sparkles on their face or whatever the hell else people do on their phones; the light changes and the car is still stopped. Gradually it inches forward, accelerating from zero to five miles and then from five to ten, meanwhile the cars behind are delayed, in many cases forcing us all to stop AGAIN at the next intersection because the green light turns red by the time I finally make it there. This is bullshit, or should I say VA VANGOOL, FACCIA-DE-GATZZ !
I would say it depends a lot of where in Italy. Here in the northeast things are quite similar to my native Holland, if a bit more aggressive. Things get more anarchic from Rome on down and Naples, whilst not as bad as it used to be, is still pretty bonkers. Even so, I agree with the OP that even in the south the system kind of works on its own terms.
I have driven in Italy in about 4 trips there, and in general I find them no better or worse than American drivers. I did find two quirks, both in the south.
I was once leaving Martina Franca to drive to Taranto, and stopped at the first traffic light, one of the only ones around. The guy behind me started honking his horn, because, although the light was red, there was nobody coming. Apparently that was the local custom; I never saw it anywhere else in the country.
Also in Martina Franca, parking was tight and people would often drive their right wheels over the curb to parallel park. In some cases with small cars, people would park perpendicular to the curb, driving their front wheels over the curb.
Other than that I saw a few crazy drivers on the autostrada, and a few crazy motorcyclists, but no more than what I see on I-270 and the Beltway.
People come to stops more often because they can with no ‘penalty,’ and when stopped by a traffic control device, they can’t get their head out of their mobile phone.
I never go just as the light turns green, because I’m worried about being T-boned by some idiot in the cross traffic running the red light.
Sorry if that pisses you guys behind me off, but, tough shit.
A taxi driver speeds through a red light without slowing down, without looking. The passenger says, “What are you doing?! That was a red light!”
The driver replies, “Don’t worry about it. My cousin, he does it all the time.”
The passenger sits back until the driver blows through another red. He practically leaps out of his seat, “What are you doing?! You’ll get us killed!” The driver waves him off, “No worries. My cousin, he does it all the time.”
Then they come to a green light and the driver slams on the brakes and creeps into the intersection before taking off again. Now the passenger is livid. “What was that?! That light was green!” The driver nods and then shrugs before replying.
Saw that happen right in front of me in January. SUV blew right through a red light and smacked the lead car heading through the green light (I was second in line). I was subpoenaed as a witness but the ticketing cop didn’t show for the trial so the judge let her off.
Well, I see it happen all the time when it is blatantly obvious that there is nobody coming across the intersection who could possibly run a red light, so they have no excuse. When the light turns green, your foot should be on the gas pedal.
