giovedì 18 ottobre 2007

Basta con le moto!!!

I'm having trouble keeping up with my blog at the moment - work is proving extremely demanding at the moment and I'm arriving home later and later every evening. As a result, I'm also having trouble speaking / writing in both English and Italian - am awaiting the moment when my brain short circuits completely. Until then, please excuse the posts that make no sense / poor grammar / worse spelling etc. and bear with me...
I've been wanting to write about my hospital visit experience since last weekend, and this is the first chance I have had. I've mentioned before (more than once!) my utter disgust at the unecessary dangers which one faces when driving in Milan, and the general lack of road safety evident at every turn. The whole situation was brought home to me on Sunday when we went to visit Luca's ex-roommate in hospital, following a serious motorcycle accident. Basically he was coming home from work one evening on one of the long straight roads which leads into the city from the northern ring-road, and was hit hard by a car jumping a red light at a crossroads. His bike flew 20 metres and smashed into a million pieces and he landed on the road after 40 metres, breaking both of his arms and both of his hips. Actually his hip bone snapped in two. I hope no one reading this is either squeamish, eating or both. In order to visit him in the intensive care unit, we were required to wear gowns and shoe protectors. He was full of morpheine and only just understood who we were. It turns out that the guy who hit him is an illegal immigrant with no driving licence. He probably didn't even know what the red light meant. It makes me so angry to see someone who lives a quiet, responsible life be brought so much pain simply as a result of someone else's ignorance. Umberto will have to remain in hospital for three months, after which he will be unable to move from his bed for 6 months. This will be followed by up to two years of intensive physiotherapy - a painful process in itself. How life can change in a split second of time. I have never been a big fan of motorbikes - Luca wrote his off in a serious accident in which he broke his leg, and just about everyone I know has either been involved in a bike accident or knows someone who has. I myself have witnessed a handful in the past 5 years. Luca's already planning his next motorbike purchase - I think my nervous breakdown is just round the next corner.....

4 commenti:

Sara, Ms Adventures in Italy ha detto...

Wow, reading your post I got chills...my colleague this weekend got in a motorcycle accident...he also shattered his femur and will be in the hospital for some time. He is not named Umberto, however.

Fabrizio was hit by a guy who said "I needed to do a U-turn" (where you couldn't)

Emmina ha detto...

It's pretty scary - and the fact that you know someone in the same situation only highlights the frequency of these things. I once witnessed an accident in Sardinia so serious that I couldn't get in the car for 3 days afterwards...

Kataroma ha detto...

I agree - motorbikes and scooters and just too dangerous.

A guy I worked with died in a motorbike accident a few months ago. It was just so incredibly sad - he was only 42 and left behind two young children.

He was actually an excellent driver but on a motorbike one mistake (either by your, another driver or the road designer) and you're done for. In his case, he was driving on a bendy road near viterbo and one sharp bend was not signposted or visible. As he went round the bend, he lost control of his bike and went skidding across the road just as a truck passed in the other direction. Workmates told me that other people had died at the same intersection and local people had been petitioning for the council to put up proper signs.

But so many of my Italian friends rely on their motorini to get to work - public transport here in rome is just so terrible (2 metro lines for 4 million people!) and you can't park a car in the center so they have no choice.

I've been told that Milan is "better" than Rome though - the drivers are more careful and the public transport is better. Not sure if that's true though as I havent been to Milan yet.

Emmina ha detto...

To be fair, public transport is pretty good in Milan - there are three metro lines and the bus / tram services will get you just about anywhere (although they tend to come along in threes every half hour rather than one every ten minutes..) You also risk your health - especially on the metro!!