Re: Crazy drivers ?
 

In Verona, the police have started fining drivers who do not stop at crossings and pedestrian who do not use crossings.

Cyclists are a pain here. Everyone cycles -except me- here, but its not the everyday cyclist that bugs me. It's the ones who think they are the next who ever is the top cyclist at the moment and the groups that hog the whole road.

My top peeve on Italy? Dog sh*t!

Re: Crazy drivers ?
 

http://www.castedduonline.it/cagliari/centro-storico/22097/viale-colombo-strisce-pedonali-killer-investito-un-pallavolista.html

Latest from the web (am in london but it is my italian patch when there).

Chuck strisce pedonali into the search box on that news site and lots of other similar incidents will be turned up.

Check also the comment to that piece - good that some italians don't see this driving behaviour as acceptable, "the way things are", part of the local colour, behaviour which italians and foreigners are supposed to tolerate for fear of being seen as anal or rule bound.

I personally am pretty lucky not to have ended up in one of those stories.

Re: Crazy drivers ?
 

Some total knobhead knocked my son off his bike today on the way home from school and carried on driving.
For most of the way there is a cycle path and I believe that he is very careful crossing the only little road he has to cross at the small roundabout. I've trained him well and I've watched him.

He came home 10 minutes late and limping and told me, "Mummy I saw the car and knew it wasn't indicating and I know this drives you crazy at roundabouts so I waited to see where it was going. When it started going straight across I set off on the zebra crossing straight across the other side, but then it was like the driver changed his mind and came quickly around the roundabout. I hadn't quite finished getting across my side so he clipped my back wheel and I wobbled and fell off onto the zebra crossing. The driver just carried on. I don't even know if he realised he hit me. An old lady ran into the road and started shouting about getting me an ambulance. I was okay but I banged my knee. I kept telling the old lady that I thought I'd be okay and was nearly at home. She wouldn't let me go until she could see that I could get back on my bike."

Poor lad. Neither him nor the old lady had time to get the number plate and didn't really think about it until it was too late. They were both too worried about seeing if Alex could get up and carry on. Bastard.

Re: Crazy drivers ?
 

What a complete idiot , I'm glad Alex wasn't hurt and that there was someone on hand to see he was ok . Will you be reporting it to the police ? My eldest was knocked over on a zebra crossing in October , she wasn't hurt just shaken up . The car didn't stop and the one behind that only just missed her , it was the night that Parma was flooded and the heavy rain and general ' panic ' didn't help. We were advised to go to the police but we didn't have the number plate either .

Re: Crazy drivers ?
 

Thanks Hads,

Alex is fine and to be honest, I can't see what the police can do without a number plate. Alex won't cross in the future if there's even a shadow of car. It's a small, wide open roundabout and you can see all around it. Must have been some blind driver.

Re: Crazy drivers ?
 

I think you are right Lorna, all the Police would do is take a statement and give you a copy - won't actually help with anything.

The main thing is that Alex is OK

Re: Crazy drivers ?
 

Thanks Mike.

Re: Crazy drivers ?
 

Glad to hear Alex is ok. You can't believe the stupidity of some people can you.

Our daughter was hit by a car on a zebra crossing outside our UK home. Driver said she ran straight out, which I don't believe because she was 13 at the time, had lived there all her life, and had always had the safe use of the crossing drilled into her.

An ambulance was called, by which time our son had run home to tell me what was going on, so I went in the ambulance with her.

A mile up the road they pulled in in panic - her heart rate was slower than they expected - they calmed down though when they found out she was an athlete, so it must be common for them. The hospital was happy with her and we were allowed home reasonably quickly considering.

No harm done, the police were called to the scene, but no action was taken in the end.

Re: Crazy drivers ?
 

Yes it is.

Your max heart rate is fixed but decreases with age after about 34-35.

However, your resting heart rate can be lowered by improving your fitness. Middle/Long distance runners and cross country-skiers can have very low resting heart rates.

As an example, Seb Coe reportedly had a resting heart rate (RHR) of 29 bpm when he broke the world 800M record in 1979. RHR is typically in the range 60-100 bpm for an average person but a well trained endurance athlete will often have a resting BPM in the low 40s.

I can bore for hours on heart rates if anyone is interested? Thought not! ;)

Re: Crazy drivers ?
 

I was on the GRA (Rome's M25) on a three lane entry exit slip. In the centre lane going slower than me is a car indicating left so I indicate and move .into the right hand lane. Still indicating left he moves across to the right. I indicate left and move into the centre lane, as I go past I look across and there is a little kid sitting in his father's lap steering the car!!! FFS SPQR sono pazzi questi Romani

Re: Crazy drivers ?
 

sorry to hear about Alex Lorna. He sounds like a responsible little chap -luckily he wasn't seriously hurt - but what an absolute idiot driver .Such a pity it wasn't possible to get the number.
Just out of curiousity - does he wear a cycle helmet. I only ask cos my sister was knocked off her bike a few years ago and she wasn't wearing her helmet and we very nearly lost her. She was rushed to hospital for an emergency op on her head. Unfortunately it put her off and she won't ever cycle again. :(

On another note......they have just made our little village all one way in the centre and I didn't know and I drove down it the wrong way last week :eek: Its all in aid of having a large cycle/pedestrian path in place. Not sure if a tiny little village like mine really needs it !

Re: Crazy drivers ?
 

Sorry to hear about that Lorna.

I live in hope that more italians might use a bit of citizen power to get together and force drivers to stop at blackspots - might also embarass the various police forces to get off their arses and do something about it rather than just trying to look cool.

Incivile parking is an associated issue - blocks sight lines, leads to a general civic feeling that anything goes, you and your loved ones are the only thing that matters, wouldn't want them to walk one more step than they absolutely have to.


Cagliari, la nuova moda dei furbetti dei parcheggi: "code" e strisce - Casteddu Online

Some hope again, if you read the comments, that not everyone accepts the selfishness as the italian way/cultural badge of pride.

Re: Crazy drivers ?
 

Yes of course there are lots of crazy drivers about. But, while it's no excuse for them, some accidents are also caused or nearly happen because of poor road design. The slip road entrances to motorways or main roads, for example, seem to be generally much shorter than the UK norm; and in towns the side streets often join the main streets at a sharp angle so that it's impossible to see whether anything's coming without nosing out dangerously. I could go on...

Re: Crazy drivers ?
 

I agree totally about slip roads. The majority i see in sardinia are appalling. Because they are so short (and often very curved) the traffic entering the main road cannot synchronise their speed with the main road. So they often have to slow to crawling pace or even stop. And then somehow get into fast moving traffic from a near standing start. It seems like such a basic problem. It also mystifies me since there is clearly so much good design and engineering in italy. Better not get me started on some of the still appalling signs on sardinian roads. I always expect to see cars flipped over as they try to react to a last minute sign.

Re: Crazy drivers ?
 

It shouldn't come as a surprise to find that people here aren't as keen on 'civic virtues', like following the highway code, paying taxes, not dumping rubbish by the side of the road, and so on as they are in, say, the US or the UK.

On the other hand, in Italy you'd be less likely to hear this sort of filthy BS -