If you plan on driving in Europe, particularly the country of Italy, there are a number of things you might want to be aware of before you hit the road.
The many good things
The right side of the road
To be fair, I should point out that there are many good things about driving the roads of Tuscany. First of all, everyone drives on the right, just as in the United States. For drivers, this is even more important than being able to speak the language (I only know German). Not having to get used to driving on the opposite side of the road means that you can concentrate on the really important things such as traffic circles (more on that later).
Courtesy
Contrary to popular opinion, I found Italian drivers to be courteous – at least outside the major cities. Many of them drive fast and aggressively (with these kinds of mountain roads, who doesn’t want to be Fangio), but I never encountered anyone who was obnoxious or rude. My only confrontation was with a scooter driver and, truth be told, it was my fault, since I cut him off in the confusion and utter terror of negotiating the streets of Firenze (Florence).
Speed Limits
As in many parts of America, posted speeds in Italy are merely guidelines and suggest only the minimum standard of forward motivation. This is not to suggest that Italian drivers are reckless. To paraphrase Cindy Lauper, they only “want to have fun.” So feel free to join in once you get to know the roads.
GPS Devices
We should all thank the military for this one – the development of the GPS system and its civilian applications. If you don’t have one, rent one when you get here. I found the TomTom to be utterly indispensable in both the countryside as well as in the cities. The numerous one-way streets, dead end streets and traffic circles make it impossible to follow your route on anything as rudimentary as a road map.
The Bad
Traffic Circles
The British call them “roundabouts” and they are a fiendishly clever way to avoid the installation of traffic signals. Picture a large paved circle with any number of roads radiating out from it. Traffic enters and exits on these roads. When you come to a traffic circle, you must yield to traffic already in the circle. Once inside, you merely have to exit on the correct road when it comes up.
In the country and on roads with little traffic, it’s a fairly simple procedure. In a big, strange, crowded city surrounded by buses, trucks, cars, motorcycles and scooters, it can be a terrifying lesson in the white-knuckle school of driving (with the Tom Tom, in its British-accented female voice calmly telling me “take the next right, then straight on”).
Driving in the larger cities
There’s really not much to say here, other than “don’t”. Take a bus or a taxi. Even with the hideous exchange rate, it will be well worth the money. Not only will you avoid the urge to park your car anywhere – a public park, say, or the River Arno, you’ll retain your sanity and your good disposition so that you can enjoy your family and friends as well as the rest of your vacation.
Tags: arno, fangio, firenze, florence, gps, italy, roundabout, tomtom
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