Inspired by @shavixmir's thread in Debates.
My personal opinion: Naples, Italy.
As a German I am quite used to follow rules as written out (by signs on tarmac and the roadside). I understand that drivers in southern Italy take rules as suggestion and go by the maxim that if everyone is just looking forward and reacting to others it works fine. It does. It just gave me a lot of adrenalin shocks in the time.
Unsurfaced roads in the rainforest around the town where I lived in West Papua [or Irian Jaya as it was called at that time], especially in the rainy season. I made some trips on a motorbike to the interior related to my work that could have been episodes of an old-school reality TV show.
@ponderable saidJakarta, the Indonesian capital city, about 600 km west of where I live, sounds a bit Naples-like.
My personal opinion: Naples, Italy.
As a German I am quite used to follow rules as written out (by signs on tarmac and the roadside). I understand that drivers in southern Italy take rules as suggestion and go by the maxim that if everyone is just looking forward and reacting to others it works fine. It does. It just gave me a lot of adrenalin shocks in the time.
@ponderable saidMet a friend off their train at the Gare Du Nord in Paris. Bad idea to drive, but thought it would be an experience. It was. 😆
Inspired by @shavixmir's thread in Debates.
My personal opinion: Naples, Italy.
As a German I am quite used to follow rules as written out (by signs on tarmac and the roadside). I understand that drivers in southern Italy take rules as suggestion and go by the maxim that if everyone is just looking forward and reacting to others it works fine. It does. It just gave me a lot of adrenalin shocks in the time.
Years ago we hired a car at Athens airport and drove through the city centre rush hour. That was my first time with the opposite drive as well. Like dodgems. If you aren't prepared to take risks you could easily just get stranded at a junction and never move again.
Have only ever been a passenger in Italy, but I remember getting a lift from a woman in a tiny Fiat who treated the road into Venice as a kind of slalom course which was interesting.
@relentless-red saidI’ve only been in taxis in Paris but the Arc de Triomphe mass interchange is something to behold.
Met a friend off their train at the Gare Du Nord in Paris.
@divegeester saidAbove and beyond that, you have the added outrage of Bristol's role in the slave trade.
Most of Bristol, but especially the city centre which is a nightmare of one way routes, bus lanes, bus gates (also roads), dead-ends and roadworks. All with heavy traffic.
@divegeester saidI once cycled around the Arc de Triomphe in heavy traffic on a heavily-laden bicycle [weighed down with full panniers, front and back].
I’ve only been in taxis in Paris but the Arc de Triomphe mass interchange is something to behold.
@divegeester saidTwo men were betting on whether I'd survive. One of them was my dad, so I had to do it.
I hope you won the bet!
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@ponderable saidLondon...got my van rammed by a taxi going around picidilly circus.
Inspired by @shavixmir's thread in Debates.
My personal opinion: Naples, Italy.
As a German I am quite used to follow rules as written out (by signs on tarmac and the roadside). I understand that drivers in southern Italy take rules as suggestion and go by the maxim that if everyone is just looking forward and reacting to others it works fine. It does. It just gave me a lot of adrenalin shocks in the time.
Transiting the former Yugoslavia en route to Greece in the 1980s on the Yugoput. Not dual carriage way, poor road surface, heavy goods vehicles moving slowly with inadequate lighting at night, overtaking dangerously on two/lane roadways with on-coming cars overtaking dangerously the other way. It’s a miracle we survived without a crash.
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@relentless-red saidI've never driven in either Paris or Rome, but I've walked extensively in both cities. Roman drivers don't give a toss whether they murder you (or themselves) or not, bur Parisian drivers are actively aggressive.
Met a friend off their train at the Gare Du Nord in Paris. Bad idea to drive, but thought it would be an experience. It was.
