I just wanted to mention how good it is driving in Italy and how the etiquette work.
Trucks are basically speed limited based on size it seems and the type of roads. The highest speed of 90km/h for mid size trucks on Autostradas down to 60km/h on smaller roads. Typically Prime Movers with a triple axle trailer have a speed limit of 80km/h on the Autostradas where the speed limit is 130km/h. They are also disallowed from using the fast lane unless absolutely necessary to pass another slow moving vehicle. This makes passing very simple, you just go past them in the fast lane.
Even though there may be speed limits of 130km/h many car drivers exceed these by a lot. At times I will have the cruise control on at 130km/h catch up to a truck or slower vehicle, check if t is clear and there will be an empty road both ahead and behind. I'll pull out (after indicating which is in itself unusual here). I'll be half past the slower vehicle when there is a car up my clacker.
So here the etiquette is is they are happy behind you, they will sit a reasonable distance back and match your speed. If they want to pass you they will be tailgating you. That's your cue to move over, so you do move and if you do it to others (tailgate them), they will move over to even if they just move into a spot between two other slow lane vehicles to let you pass. Its is quite normal friendly and non-aggro.
Another thing I will mention is tolls. There are many tollways, some you just pay along the way and they are fixed amounts. However sometimes the toll is at one end and you are charged for the distance used. How this works is that at the entrance to the toll road you are given a ticket at the entry point by a machine. When you get to the payment point you hand both money and ticket to the person and they determine your cost based on vehicle size and distance used.
Driving around town is also one of those situations where you need to be a little assertive but not aggressive and very aware. Leave room for scooters which outnumber the motorbike 10 to 1 easily. Two wheeled transport is king from wheeled recreational devices, to bicycles, to scooters and motorbikes. No cost at all for parking these in order to encourage their use. Cars cost in every way, to park (thankfully with the disability parking permit I am untimed and free), diesel fuel is around 1.40Euro which is about $2.10AUD a litre, petrol is even more again. The BMW we are driving is incredibly fuel efficient getting around 1,000kms to a 70 litre tank.
As for using bikes, they are highly respected road users. Streets are narrow so that for example a bus will just fit and if behind a cyclist, will just sit there patiently, as will car drivers. Why, because everyone uses them and it could be your brother, sister, mother, father, son, daughter, grand parent, aunty, uncle, cousin, colleague or even someone you don't know. And that is the point, they are a person, someone else's loved one, a life to be respected.
You see all walks of life using bikes and scooters, from young people, ladies in their high heels and dressed to the nines, men in the patent leather shoes and suits, to tradesmen carrying tools and ladders, delivery riders carrying all sorts of items and older people getting around with dog carrying baskets. And virtually not a helmet in sight because riding a bike is a normal and safe thing to do. Just like walking, and bikes are literally velocipedes, for those who are not up on their Latin and Greek it translates to "fast (veloci or velo) pedestrian (pede)". Its why it always make me laugh to see bike shops or bike related things referred to as "velo", it has nothing to do with bikes, it just means fast, though the French partially co-opted the word to mean bike in their language.
Velodrome (mash up of Latin and Greek) simply means a structure where people can go fast in one direction, we associate it with bikes, it could be anything.
Sean
Photos
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2017-05-13~14 The Journey
2017-05-15 Road Trip, Rome to Firenze
2017-05-16 Tuscany & Pisa
2017-05-17 Morning Amble
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