Italian Driving School

‘YOU wouldn’t take cricket lessons from a Frenchman; you wouldn’t take cooking lessons from an Englishman, and you certainly wouldn’t take driving lessons from an Italian.

An Italian car park

But that is what Italy’s departing ambassador to New Zealand is doing, ending his four-year stint in the country by accusing Kiwis of being ”very, very bad drivers”.

Dr Roberto Palmieri, who has been repeatedly reported for speeding by other motorists, said people in the country tended to be too politically correct.

”New Zealand drivers are very, very bad drivers and also very dangerous because they don’t think all the time,” he said.

”The driving here is very regulated, but you drive erratically.”

Examples of this erratic driving include stopping at red lights, slowing down in built-up areas, not overtaking round blind corners…

Dr Palmieri will no doubt be relieved when he gets home to find that the driving in Italy is as consistent as ever. As consistently awful.

Last weekend alone, 56 people died and 1,000 were injured in what the country’s transport minister called Italy’s ”daily massacre” on the roads.

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Posted: 20th, May 2003 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink