In Italy, drivers often
•violate traffic laws, especially in the southern sections of the country
• drive aggressively and/or recklessly
• ignore red lights, drive on the sidewalk, and zoom around each other, crisscrossing through wide intersections
• tailgate
• pass recklessly on narrow roads
Quote from http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plai ... ly001.html :
To get some idea of the Italian Scooter Plague, imagine the chinks between cars to be filled with hurtling motor scooters, each sounding its tiny horn, racing its motor. Sticklers for naked realism can go on to imagine the chinks between scooters filled with bicycles and small children learning to rollerskate. I used to think that nothing could be worse than the Italian Scooter Plague, but I was wrong. As young Italians get more money in their pockets, the Scooter Plague gives way to the Motorcycle Menace which is louder, faster, smokier, and altogether more surpassing.
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Hey all - It's been a while since i've been riding, due to dual hernia operations (YEEEEOWCH!) Luckily for me, I still haven't been off my bike for as long as some of you poor saps who live in the great white north. (I'll rase a mug of hot chocolate for ya.) At any rate, I've been back on my bike for almost 2 weeks, and I'm loving every minute of it. It's already nice enough for me to wear my Mesh Jacket, and mesh gloves!!! (Standard issue army boots a given.) Well, Spring is coming for you folks, so here's a little something to get you 'in the mood.'
My wife and I live in a part of the Naples Province called the Campi Flegrea - Which literally means "The burning fields." This is an area directly to the west of Naples along the western coast of Italy, and was first founded by the Greeks at Cumae in approx 800 bc. The name derives from the plethora of volcanic activity in the area, a byproduct of which is many extinct volcanic craters and a whole lot of thermal baths, amking it a hot spot for tourism since the days of ancient Rome. This area is connected to Naples mainly by a highway called the Tangenziale - the sole artery to carry 4 million plus inhabitants of the area to the west coast. There are also hundreds of congested little side streets - but more on that later. The Tangenziale requires a small toll of 65 Euro Cents ...and on this particular day I had enough on me to get me into Naples, but not enough to get me out. So, instead of walking onto the local tobacco shop and giving the guy a 50 euro note for some breath mints and change, I decided on the less sane option. For the first time, I would traverse Napoli on the bike and off the freeway.
Now, If you've never been to Naples, you have no idea what the drivers here are like ... Give someone a cocktail of Crack Cocaine, Speed and LSD (The chemical equivalent to Neapolitan Espresso) and put a cellphone to their ear, stylish sunglasses on their faces, and (what appears to be a rather malfunctional) steering wheel in their car, you would have a rather vague notion of the average Neapolitan Driver. If you can imagine every possible traffic violation, and add a few more (Like someone stopping for a pissbreak on a six-lane highway _With no shoulder_.) Then mix it all up with a bit of swagger and bravado, and a couple hundred thousand 20-year old fiat/gocart thingies on four wheels (complete with dents and scrapes -Neapolitan Racing Stripes-) and you have the typical driving scene in Naples. While you are picturing that, let me add that Naples proper has a handful of traffic lights. Maybe enough to count on two hands. But no matter, because the average Neapolitan has no earthy clue what a traffic light means. (Fast, faster, and really really fast so we don't get broadsided.) - Finally, as if that weren't enough, there is the small matter of the typical Neapolitan city street. Only wide enough for one car, yet somehow traffic manages to flow in two directions.
Chaos abounds. It is an ephemeral state of nature by which the strong survive. Nature abhors a vacuum, and so do Neapolitans. If there is an empty space in front of you (Even on the wrong side of the road) you better hop to, cuz it ain't gonna be there for long. And if you want to get where you are going, the you better grab it while it's hot. Filtering is a must. If you don't filter, and you are on a bike, even the cagers deride you. Therefore, you must be completely aware of everything going on around you. You must travel the center of your lane to have any kind of relative safety zone. The left part of the lane is not safe because it is taken up by someone passing coming in the opposite direction. The right part of the lane isn't safe either, because Neapolitans have a nasty habit of ignoring stop signs, choosing instead to stop halfway into the intersection (So they can see what traffic is coming, no doubt!)
Yes, there's beautiful scenery, and the general business of a large dirty urban center is going on all around, but that's not important. You are a part of that business. The wonderful chaotic entity that is Naples, where the sidewalks are for parking and the streets are for walking. It is here that Motorcyclists are in their own element, and it is here where biking freedom truly exists. Some would say that taking a long cruise out in the desert is what biking freedom's all about. I can see that, if your brand of freedom is solitude and empty spaces, the long ride to oblivion. But what is freedom without the chance to burst forth into the daily grind with an exuberant shout confirming your being?
Bikers here express themselves in a number of ways. They run streetlights. They speed up to 100 km's over the limit. They pull wheelies on ther piaggio 125's. They defy law and go around without helmets. They travel on the wrong side of the road - as a matter of personal pride they have to pass the guy in front of them no matter what. And half the time they do this with a passenger. Nobody cares. In truth, it's all part of the game. Not only is this what bikers do, but the Cages accept and expect it! Cages will actually -move out of the way- for a scooter heading down the wrong side of the street in order to filter through traffic!
No one ever said freedom was safe. It's actually pretty insane and dangerous, but I love it just the same.
Besides, I made it home safe
