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By Stephen BrownMon Jul 23, 6:02 PM ET
A gruesome spate of deadly road accidents this summer may finally destroy the
Italians' belief that their agility at the wheel compensates for a cavalier
attitude to safety and their reactions are not dulled by drink.
In the country with world's second highest density of car ownership, traffic
accidents are depressingly common on roads clogged with irascible drivers who
disdain traffic rules, park anarchically and treat pedestrians like moving
targets.
But reports of toddlers and teenagers mown down by drunk drivers -- and not
least the president's wife who was knocked over on a pedestrian crossing
outside the palace -- have prompted Italian politicians to react.
Prime Minister Romano Prodi, unusual for preferring bicycles even though the
red Ferrari is the ultimate Italian status symbol, called for a "major moral
and civic shake-up" regarding Italy's diabolical driving habits.
The influential Catholic Church decries "collective madness" on the roads and
Pope Benedict has issued "10 Commandments" for motorists, saying cars "tend to
bring out the 'primitive' side of human beings."
That certainly seems to be the case in Rome, where the heirs to the cradle of
European civilization turn surprisingly aggressive behind the wheels of their
pint-sized city cars, or mounted on the buzzing mopeds that swarm the streets.
"If you scratch my paintwork, I'll kill you," a burly truck driver shouts at a
mother trying to maneuver a pushchair round his vehicle, which is occupying the
width of the pavement.
On the busy Via Salaria, a blind woman trying to negotiate a pedestrian
crossing blocked by cars parked three abreast vents her frustration by beating
them with her white stick.
Pavements provide scant refuge, with cars parking on them and zooming mopeds
using them as short-cuts. Zebra crossings at traffic lights serve as starting
grids for impatiently revving scooters and motorbikes.
"In nearly 60 years of life I've never seen a driver fined for not respecting
the lines," wrote Il Manifesto newspaper's Marco d'Eramo in a column. "Once,
hit by a car on a crossing, I was told off by a policeman who said 'you should
be more careful'."
D'Eramo said the Italian capital boasts 2.4 million cars for 2.5 million
inhabitants -- and 8.47 pedestrians killed or hurt per 1,000 people versus 0.85
in London or 0.4 in Paris.
THE LAWLESS ROADS
Applying make-up or talking by mobile phone while driving is routine. An
82-year-old Sicilian distracted by a call drove onto a beach last month,
hurting children and a pregnant woman.
Lobby groups like "Safe Children" lament that only one in five Italians wears a
seat belt, while children often sit in the back or front with no belt, let
alone a car seat, and sometimes on the lap of an adult at the wheel.
This adds up to 8,000 deaths a year in road accidents plus 170,000 people put
in hospital and 600,000 needing first aid, according to health ministry
estimates. Comparing Italy's record with the European Union is hampered by poor
data but the EU has demanded member nations halve the number of accidents by
2010.
That will be difficult in a place where the death-defying disdain for things
like speed limits prompts Rome police to keep two Lamborghini Gallardo
"supercars" for high-speed chases.
But faced with public outcry, and incidents like attempts to lynch a Mercedes
driver who knocked over a couple on a moped in Rome, killing one of them,
ministers are vying with each other to propose draconian additions to a draft
law on road safety.
Suggestions include raising the charge for drunk drivers who kill to murder
from manslaughter, confiscating their vehicles, banning alcohol at motorway
cafes and warning against the dangers of drink-driving on the labels of liquor
bottles.
"This is a national emergency," said Transport Minister Alessandro Bianchi,
demanding "more severe punishments and obligatory arrest."
"MURDEROUS CITY"
The bill awaiting Senate approval will ban under-fives from riding pillion on
mopeds, now a common sight, reduce the speed limit for young drivers and crack
down on those using phones, doing U-turns on motorways or ignoring one-way
signs.
But experts doubt new paperwork in itself will help unless laws are applied
more rigorously by more visible police patrols.
They also fear interest may flag after the annual season for carnage in summer,
when holidaying inebriated teenagers leaving nightclubs become victims and
perpetrators.
"Road safety is not a summer problem nor just about the Saturday night
carnage," said the Italian Automobile Club (ACI). "People driving on Italian
roads must have the certainty that if they break the rules, they will be
stopped and punished."
While praising a police campaign to double the number of alcohol tests on
drivers to a million in 2007, ACI said Italy will remain woefully behind France
which carried out 8 million such tests on its roads last year.
Meanwhile, wilting bunches of flowers continue to appear on street corners hit
by tragedy, sometimes accompanied by a note like the one in southern Rome which
read: "Thank you, Rome, for the murderous city you have become."