Friday 19 March 2010

Italian Motorway Junction on a Normal Day

21 comments:

Richard said...

Hehe - excellent! I have driven/ridden a lot in Italy, and although the driving is a lot more vigorous and boisterous than in the UK, it's all reasonably well-disciplined once you get into the swing of it. I very much doubt if they were Italian drivers. Probably East European truckers who don't (or won't) understand the basic rules. We have them here too.

subrosa said...

Glad you enjoyed it Richard. Was just a bit of fun really to lighten a Friday.

Italian roads are a nightmare, mainly (from a tourist view) the lack of signposts. I won't tell you how many miles I once travelled from A to B but I knew the circle to back to A very well by the end of it.

CrazyDaisy said...

SR

Yeah that makes me laugh, it looks like madeness but they have a system that works better than the UK. I enjoyed my 3 years in Naples and it made me a better driver and no crashes!

Rain and dreich here!

CD

Mrs Rigby said...

Brilliant!

By the way, did you notice the car/driver on the other carriageway at about 1m29s onwards?.

Richard said...

Stopping for a pee? The French will stop for a leak anywhere, although I can't say I have seen the Italians doing the same. I was once being driven by an Italian on the autostrada near Aosta, and he stopped in the middle of a junction to check his satnav. I was acutely embarrassed in a very British way, but he ignored all the hooting and carried on in his own sweet time.

I love Italians.

The Last Of The Few said...

Oh god my Mrs has got the car keys again !!

subrosa said...

OK here CD but a strong NE wind means you need your semmit.

subrosa said...

Yes Mrs R I did. The other commenters before you didn't I don't think. :) I'm not going to say that because they're male because that would be sexist. :)

subrosa said...

In my experience Richard, Italians have always said ' You didn't DRIVE there?'. They expect anyone with sense to use public transport if at all possible.

subrosa said...

LotF, be grateful she may just be on the M9 not an autostrada. :)

Richard said...

I've only been on public transport in Italy once (a coach, for about 20 miles) and it was terrifying. I was far more nervous that at any time under my own steam. The driver was a Robert De Niro lookalike, and a Michael Schumacher drivealike. I thought I was a goner several times.

Only Liverpool bus drivers are faster.

subrosa said...

Now Richard, you've warned me well. I'll never go on a bus in Italy!

banned said...

There must be something seriously wrong with the road layout there for so many truck drivers make those same manouvres.
Incidentally, it also goes to show what a waste of space all those dedicated lanes, no entry and one way signs are. Those Itlalians refused to be treated like children and their driving skills ensured that no-one came to any harm. Forza Italia!

banned said...

ps, I've travelled around Italy by motorbike (sans helmet), car, Vespa, train and bus; all very civilised and nothing like as scary as Paris.

subrosa said...

It's a shame we can't see behind the camera banned. It was an Italian friend who sent this because it's all the rage in Italy at the moment. Hopefully police won't get the lorry registrations.

I've only drive in a car and it was ok. In Paris I always travelled by public transport or shanks' pony but the noise of the traffic is enough and the way they behave at roundabouts is something else.

Richard said...

"Hopefully police won't get the lorry registrations." - you mean you think it's good? I'm going to come over all authoritarian and statist and say that, on a fast motorway, signs and no-entries are good. I'm bloody glad I wasn't coming through there on the bike "at or near the legal limit" (cough) when those trucks decided to take an impromtu U-turn.

The most frightened I have ever been on the road was in Paris, crossing the Place de le Concorde - about 7 lanes, no road markings, and driving is a contact sport. What made it worse was that I was in a Citroen 2CV, so they all thought I was a native. I survived, but with several grey hairs.

subrosa said...

I sit corrected Richard and see your point. Very true, one of these lorries could have cause loss of life.

You're a braver man than most to drive a 2CV anywhere in central Paris. I think that's why 2CVs are cheap, they're replaced so often. Awfully uncomfy cars though aren't they? Maybe today's are better.

When I lived in Paris for a short time at the end of the 60s, my neighbour had one and used to offer me the odd lift. They had no suspension it seemed but I did appreciate it really as it was usually raining when I accepted their offer.

Richard said...

I had two - a 2CV6 that took me right round Europe in 1982, and a Dyane wich was my daily driver when the kids were small. The suspension is fantastic, if a little wallowy. It's the seats, which in the older versions were little more than deckchairs, that were the problem. But hey, you can take them all out and have a dejeuner sur l'herbe in five minutes! I loved my 2CV - it never failed to get me to work through the worst of East Yorkshire winters, and never let me down. Sadly, they stopped making them in 1990. They would never pass the emissions and crash protection regs now. I'd have another one tomorrow. In fact, there are a few on eBay right now ...

WV: magic

subrosa said...

I've never thought Citreon were good with suspension Richard, even though I own one.

Like all middle of the road cars these days the quality isn't there. At least with the likes of my Ford Anglia and Triumph Herald when I shut it door it didn't seem to ring like an empty tin of beans.

Give me the quality of the cars of the 60s and 70s and the technology of those of today and we'd have something to brag about.

Apogee said...

once you have run this to the end and the thumbnails show run the first to the right ,the one with the pillar of smoke and then tell us what you think happened.

subrosa said...

I see what you mean Apogee!

Related Posts with Thumbnails