Gas Scooters as Transport - Some Hard-Earned Counsel

As a Vespa owner for over 6 years, riding in and around Denver, I can also recommend that you get a motorcyle license, and take the training that goes along with that.

You have to be super aware of the cars around you, they CANNOT see you, you have to watch them. Don't let yourself be next to, or in the blind area of a car, you have to speed up, or slow down to make sure you are not right next to a car, just incase they make a sudden lane change.

I LOVE my scooter, having put over 9,000 miles on her. I so agree with Gio...read the thoughts well, and keep these in mind if/when you get on a scooter.

Watching scooter drivers in Italy, there is NO way I'd want to drive in any city there, they do not obey any rules..they ahve their own rules, driving between lanes of traffic, or outside the lanes.

I just met a lady in Camogli. she's Italian, but lived in Boston for several years before returning home. She said she'd never ride a scooter in Italy, said the car drivers there have no respect for the scooters (and if you read the paragraph before this one, you know why). She says it's just too dangerous.

Out side the cities, riding in the hills, you must have a scooter that has the power to get up those hills. at least a 250. Our little 50-150cc scooters just wont' cut it if you have to move quickly to get out of the way of a car. In the hills in Italy, I see only larger motorcycles, not scooters!

Great posts!

I often find that people have this romantic idea that scooters are a perfect means of transportation. I agree they are fun and economical, but due to the laws of physics, you really have to have a good idea of how they work, how to ride safely and where you are going.

Unfortunately, a strange European city is not the place to try riding for the first time.

Gio, sorry to read about your collision and injuries. One thing you didn't mention was the Italian drivers. It's not like here in America. They own all parts of the road whenever they feel like it. While in Florence, we saw 4 accidents each with an ambulance loading a person that was riding a motorscooter. You should be really experienced with both the motorscooter and with the Italian drivers.

Thanks, Ellen, Jon, and Larry. Absolutely! Great point. Italian drivers are something else. Beppe Severgnini explains it this way in "La Bella Figura: A Field Guide to the Italian Mind":

"When many Italians see a stoplight, there brain perceives no prohibition. Instead they see a stimulus. OK then. What kind of red is it? A pedestrian red? But it's seven in the morning. There are no pedestrians about this early. That means it's a negotiable red; it's a "not-quite-red." So we can go. These decisions are not taken lightly. They are the outcome of a logical process that almost always turns out to be accurate. When the reasoning fails, it's time to call the ambulance. We don't accept the idea that a red light is a red light. Our reaction is, 'Let's talk about it.'"

Gio, that saying above is priceless.

As a biker with a license for over 40 years, I would never consider getting a scooter in Italy. There, red lights are only a suggestion. Riders consider it an irresistible challenge to squeeze between two cars on a one lane road when there is a third car parked in the non-existent parking area.

I can tell you that my philosophy for driving a car in Italy - and it was confirmed driving through Genoa one Friday afternoon at rush hour - is that I can only worry about the cars. The scooters are on their own.

There's a reason they're called Vespas - nuisance wasps.

" I often find that people have this romantic idea that scooters are a perfect means of transportation. I agree they are fun and economical, but due to the laws of physics, you really have to have a good idea of how they work, how to ride safely and where you are going.

Unfortunately, a strange European city is not the place to try riding for the first time. "

Hall of Fame worthy!!!!