Being novice travellers, this was probably the greatest cultural exchange on our recent trip to Italy:
Italian Stop Sign from Corey Judd on Vimeo.
Apparently "stop" doesn't translate well, maybe it would say something like "fermo" or "arrestarsi" if you are actually required to come to a complete stop. Of course treating a stop sign as a yield sign when no one else is around sounds awfully reasonable. Seems as though I've seen that idea somewhere before:
Bicycles, Rolling Stops, and the Idaho Stop from Spencer Boomhower on Vimeo.
Ah yes, who would have guessed that Idaho is as progressive as Western Europe (and more progressive than *gasp* Oregon).
While walking around late in the evening in Florence I remember watching a driver parallel park. He used what I like to call the "parking by braille" method, as he pulled into the space, pulled up until he touched the car in front of him, and then backed up until he touched the car behind. It was most impressive.
ReplyDeleteMaybe STOP means "slow down at least 1 kilometer per hour from your current speed", rather than "cease moving at all."
Wow. Those are some pretty pathetic attempts at stopping. It's funny that it was such a regular occurrence at that spot that you were able to film it.
ReplyDeleteI once read that China is the most dangerous country for driving, so I'm surprised that Mom or Dad haven't commented yet.
ReplyDeleteI personally think you guys should go to Lima next. You'd be sure to get some even more crazy driving videos there.:-)Two words for you: Traffic circles.
And who knew that Idaho had that bike law? Yeah, you'd be surprised how progressive Idaho is becoming. Did you know that Obama came here while campaigning and was actually well received?
Do you really sit around in your free time watching little bike videos like that? Funny.
Well, I think that must actually be the law in Italy--that you only need to yield at stop signs when there is no cross traffic--that or they don't enforce traffic laws. I can't say I really know. I don't remember seeing a lot of local police, but then we were in roadless Venice, lower traffic central Florence, and hiking in Cinque Terre--travelling by train. So there wasn't much opportunity to really observe the Italian "driving culture."
ReplyDeleteI'd be game for Lima, but certainly not so I could watch car traffic. Perhaps there are lots of little bike videos I could watch there, since that's really all I do.
I suspected that fancy office setup you shared a while back was for things like little bike videos.
ReplyDelete