The difficult art of crossing a street in Rome
An Italian quote regarding traffic says: “In Milan traffic lights are instructions, in Rome they are suggestions, in Naples they are merely decorations.”. As a result, simply crossing the street in Rome can be quite a heart-racing experience.
But jokes apart, this skill is essential for the tourists; without it, you’ll never get to the sights you want to see, and trust us, it’s not as dangerous as it looks. Really, there’s a technique to do it that works all over the city and Rome Trip TIps will teach it to you.
Problems arrive when there isn’t either a traffic officer or neither the traffic lights that control the flow of the cars. The great challenge comes when you are on your own and you need to cross the street.
The technique to face that moment is the following.
Step 1: First of all cross the street only where there are pedestrian stripes (crosswalks).
Step 2: Don’t expect traffic to slow for you while you stand at the side of the road, looking hopeful, even if you are in front of the pedestrian stripes. You’ll be there for hours, and the mopads will just keep whizzing by, puzzled at why you haven’t made your move. This second step is crucial because it manifests your intent to cross the street. Italian drivers don’t care if you’re at a crosswalk with the right of way or not. If it seems like you’re just going to stand on the side of the road twiddling your thumbs, they’ll keep going. If you wait for them to stop, you could be waiting all day. Instead, you need to make it obvious that you are going to cross. So, now that you know they see you (eye contact with the drivers is fondamental), get out there and strut your stuff. Own that cross proudly and walk fearless.
Step 3: Wait until you have a decent gap to make a start, show no fear, and just start walking. As if by the same divine intervention that allowed Moses to part the waters, cars and buses will apply their brakes, scooters will smoothly maneuver around you, and you will be alive when you reach the other side. We know, in Italy is a lot like a real live game of Frogger because rather than stopping, cars often just slow down to avoid you, and sometimes, as we already said the mopads don’t slow at all, but rather try to maneuver around you. Whatever you do, don’t freeze in the middle of the road once you’ve started crossing and don’t make any other erratic movements. Pedestrian hesitation mid-stream confuses Roman drivers, Instead, walk at a consistent deliberate pace to the other side of the street, keeping up eye contact with the drivers and fearless attitude the entire time.
If this is too scary for a non-roman pedestrian, start with crossing the street with the locals until you feel comfortable doing the "plunge straight ahead" technique by yourself. Watch as they step off the curb with what appears to be reckless but suave abandon and see how the traffic magically stops.
Good luck! :)
Recap: cross the street only where there are crosswalks, wait until you have a decent gap, establish eye contact with the drivers, have a fearless attitude and walk at a consistent deliberate pace.
