Pedestrians in Italy......and other endangered species

In Australia, pedestrians have all the rights and motorists have none. In Italy, pedestrians are fair game and have the right to get out of the way (a little like SA!). Survival of the fittest is the only rule of the road. You can be walking along a quite (and tight) cobblestone lane and then wham - a car edges you up against a shop window. When we first approached a pedestrian crossing, we hypothesized that if you start walking, they will stop (a la Australia). Wrong. You wait until someone decides to stop. Tom reackons its one in twenty and he's probably right. Tom has also spotted 3 'bumper bashings' in 4 days. In fact, Tom is in charge of walking and road safety – because these Italian drivers have really been stressing him out. We had a great candid camera moment yesterday while walking to the supermarket. There was a huge puddle on the side of the road and we were standing there deciding how to navigate round it when SPLASH, a turning (speeding) car sprayed us all. Our little Tuscan travel guide says it best, under the heading Road Rules: "Largely ignored". Its no surprise this country is home to both current GP and MX world champions. Speaking of two wheels – there are scooters everywhere here, so Rob asks Mike who invented the scooter. Don’t know says Mike, probably Mr. Vespa. Nah says Rob, probably Mr. Einstein – he was pretty clever!