crossing the street in Rome

My first visit to Rome was with a Perillo Tours group. The tour guide gave us good advice on how to cross Roman streets. She said to pick a time to cross and maintain a constant speed while crossing. She explained that Roman drivers will adjust their speed to yours, deciding to cross in front of you or behind you. If you hesitate partway across the street, they get confused and you don't want Roman drivers confused! I've used that advice many times while on subsequent trips to Rome and survived all road crossings. I would recommend if crossing busy intersections not to jay walk between corners, 'tho. Save looking at the views until you are safely across the street!

Mary's advice is good. You just look for a small gap and go. Brisk walk, don't run, you might trip and fall, be determine and PREDICTABLE. Once you start crossing do not slow down or change directions. Remember tourists are important, and they have no interest in hitting you. They gain nothing by doing that. The vast majority will go behind you as you walk which is why you don't want to stop or slow down. We have spent nearly 3 weeks on Rome and my wife still doesn't get it. She is too polite. She sees someone coming and she wants to stop and let them go in front of her. I literally drag her by arm with her commenting, We are going to get hit, we are going to get hit. So far they have always missed us. It is an interesting game. Stand on the street corner and learn from the locals.

We looked for priests and nuns who were crossing the street and crossed with them until we were more comfortable with crossing on our own!

But I noticed that they, especially the nuns, their heads were down, they were clutching the cross and saving prayers as they crossed.

That's a bad habit.

Cross with the locals until you feel comfortable doing the "plunge straight ahead" technique by yourself. And in Rome they really do obey the street lights, so wait for a walk signal.

Richard - ouch! :) Drivers won't stop as you cross the street in front of them - they'll just slow down. It took me a couple days to get used to this.

Richard thinks he's nunny funny.

Have you heard the Vatican announced it's okay to kiss a nun... just don't get in the habit. :) Also, That's why there are so many churches in Rome... so you can go to confession before you cross a street. :) Seriously, Our technique (spouse, three kids and I) was to stop at the curb until everyone was together. I'd say, "Ready go" and we would start walking. As was mentioned earlier, just walk a consistent pace - no stopping and starting - and the drivers will go around you. They don't mind avoiding you but they hate to actually stop. If they have to stop, you'll probably get honked at. It really isn't that bad (but best to get right with God, just in case).

....And in Rome they really do obey the street lights, so wait for a walk signal....... I do hope you would mark that as a little tongue-in-check other wise a newbie might actually believe that. Or else, you have never been to Rome and should not be commenting.

Frank is right, street lights in Rome are more of a suggestion (kind of like Boston). For the first few weeks that I lived in Rome, I crossed "the big streets" with groups of nuns, and I was so proud when I finally had the courage to cross on my own! Rome's major intersections have pedestrian markings, and this is where you should cross. This is where drivers expect you to cross. Try not to surprise them.

Or, Frank, perhaps it's just that my experience has been different from yours. I've been to Rome three times, most recently for a full week this past May. I walked almost everywhere. What I saw was that Roman drivers stop at stoplights. That's when you can cross the streets safely. Notice that I didn't question your ability to answer the question nor whether you should be commenting on this topic.

Agree with Michael. I've never seen drivers run red lights in Rome or anywhere else. Even Palermo, where it's about as crazy as you can get, they stop at lights. I've sat behind people at 2/3 am at a light with no other traffic in sight. They won't even do a right on red. Stop signs....now that's a different story!!

Its not just in Napoli, its anywhere around there, IMO. Seeing some of the driving between Pompei and Sorrento was fun. Casatellammare di Stabia was a barrel of laughs. Salerno, astonishingly - you could have blown me down with a feather - had extremely calm traffic when we were there. Rome, once you have warmed up on the GRA, is, agreed, a bit of a madhouse. I will say though that walking in central Roma we never had any problem. It was probably easier there than in Nice.

I went to Rome with great trepidation, after all the warnings about crossing the streets. But it was easy. I was so surprised that the drivers always slow down for pedestrians. Here they don't, they just honk at you - but they do obey traffic lights (90%) and stop signs (70%). But for an honest-to-goodness adreniline rush, try crossing a street in Saigon. There are no rules, there are hundreds of kamekazi motorcycles everywhere, and no signals for pedestrians, and I don't think anyone really cares if a pedestrian - local or tourist - gets clipped.

Living in Rome, and driving almost every day on a motorino or friend's car, you see some very creative driving. Turning left from the far right lane, backing up on a one-way street to get back to the last intersection, driving on the sidewalk to get around a traffic jam, and of course, parking ANYWHERE you can (and those are just the things I've done - As I told my wife, I was only going with the flow and doing what everyone was doing. Of course I got the, "if they jumped off a cliff..."). Usually in the central part of town, red lights are followed due to the tremendous pedestrian traffic. But I'd speculate that maybe once or twice a day, I'd see someone run a light - usually coasting through. When we lived on the Cassia, traffic signals after 20:00 were definitely optional. I finally someone stopped three weeks ago for running a red light... but only because he almost nailed a motorcyle policeman coming the other way. Now that officer was ANGRY! We were in Naples, my least favorite place to drive, a couple of years ago. My wife is driving and we stop at a red light at a HUGE intersection - Our 6 lanes crossing 4 lanes. We're #3 in line at the red light in our lane (which although the road was 3 lanes, actually had cars 5-wide!). The first driver stopped at the light looks... and runs the light. We all move up. The second driver briefly waits and shoots across in front of traffic coming from BOTH directions. Now my wife is first up and she says, "I'm not going to run the light." Cars behind us start honking because she's NOT! Once the light turns green, the cars behind us swing around -on both sides of us - and explain in colorful, loud Italian how we don't know how to drive in Naples! We got to the hotel, and my wife - an experienced Roman driver - tosses me the keys and says she'll never drive in Naples again... and she never has!

Thanks, Rons, for the input. I was just trying to illustrate that it's a lot more complicated than just "Red lights are merely a suggestion." What I saw was obviously when pedestrians were present (otherwise I wouldn't have seen it, being a pedestrian.) I agree that I saw a lot of creative driving, but as long as pedestrians are aware of what's going on, you'll be fine. (And I totally agree with the initial comments about unlit crosswalks. Stare the oncoming drivers in the eye as you stroll confidently and without stopping through the crosswalk.) And, yeah, Naples is whole different ball of wax. Man, I miss Italy.

My experience is that Roman drivers obey signals. When you get a walk signal, you are pretty safe to cross. I find the "pedestrian only" streets to be the most dangerous. You think there'd be no traffic, but taxis, delivery trucks and mopeds are allowed and with no other vehicle traffic to impede them, they can go fast. Be extra cautious on such streets. I've almost been mowed down coming around corners several times.

Thank you everyone! You have been very informative and entertaining. :) lol Just keep an eye out for the nuns, right. Seriously, I feel much better and a little more confident about taking on Rome on foot for the first time.
Thanks again for all the help!

Just remember - NO MULTI-TASKING while crossing the streets! And that means no looking around at the views! :-) Your only task is to get to the other side safely. Have a great time. Rome is amazing!!!

In my years of crossing streets in Rome, I've only been "hit" once. It was on my own street! I was in the crosswalk about halfway across the 3-lane wide street when a taxi came flying around the corner. I saw him - he saw me... and we both attempted to get out of the way of each other. Fortunately, he only caught me with the drivers side mirror, spinning me around and sending me to the ground. The car screeched to a stop and out jumped the driver... apologizing profusely in rapid Italian. He offered me money, his business card - anything - if I promised not to report the "incidente." Apparently this was not his first poor driving episode! I was okay and we shook hands and I headed home. My wife proceeded to chide me for not bargaining for "free taxi fares for life!" In my neighborhood, when traffic was heavy, I crossed with my 80 year-old neighbors. These ladies would cross ANYWHERE, simply holding up their hands to oncoming traffic in a "stop" sign symbol... which meant I'm walking here and you're going to have to wait on me.Crosswalks - who needs crosswalks? Certainly downtown, where most visitors are walking, traffic laws are more adhered to. There's just too many folks walking and too many police. Out in the suburbs it's a different story... as the locals drive.... well, like locals drive in Italy!

Lisa, before my recent trip to Rome, I too was worried about crossing streets in Rome while walking with my family of four (incl. 2 kids). That was probably based on some of the same postings you read on this sight. All I can say is, we spent 8 days in Rome in July. We walked all over the place and had no incidents whatsoever. It was the same as walking in any other city. I did not feel that the Roman driver's had less regard for pedestrian safety than elsewhere. We felt very safe walking around. Just cross on the green pedestrian sign unless there is absolutely no traffic coming your way. It's just a matter of good old common sense. You will be fine, and Rome was fantastic! We loved it!
The piazza's at night are lovely, we walked around every night.