Don't
get stuck on the highway to hell, thanks to our
summer driving tips.
There's
nothing worse, after months of looking up maps and
planning, than spending the first day of your well-deserved
vacation bumper-to-bumper with seemingly every other
holiday-maker in Italy. The answer,. drastic though
it may seem, is to avoid travelling on certain dates
in August. Most of Italy appears to get their annual
leave at the start of August and for most it's straight
from the office to the motorway.And the tailback
begins. . .
In recent years there has been much talk of rational
holidays - but if everyone gets off work at the
same time, there's very little to rationalise!
However, don't despair. Help is on it's way courtesy
of the Italian motorway network , the Società
Autostrade. The company's website is a mine
of useful information for the motorist. Check the
August
Traffic Forecasts to choose the best time
to leave. (The page is in Italian but is graphics-based
and easy to understand.)
You can also look
up the toll map to check ahead for potential
queues.
If you speak Italian then tune in to Isoradio
(103.3 Mhz), a radio station dedicated
to giving traffic reports in real time. In between
bulletins the play list is somewhat schizophrenic,
you may hit lucky, you may feel like screaming by
the time you reach destination . . .but at least
you'll have avoided the worst of the traffic.
Want to get from Turin to Rimini? Venice to Rome?
Route
66 (again Italian only but fairly intuitive,
especially if you've used route planners before)
will give you distances as well as indicating the
shortest route. Afraid you won't be able to find
your way round? Print some maps
before you go for information at your fingertips.
How much will it cost? Tot up your motorway costs
with this handy interactive
table, and if you are stuck the Società
autostrade will bill you. Just pay the bill, at
no extra cost, within a fortnight at any toll gate
or post office (account slip no. 371500 - don't
forget to quote your number plate and the number
on the form you were given.)
Then your worst fear comes true . . . your car
is stolen! Before you hit the panic button make
sure that it hasn't been towed off by an over-zealous
policeman. If it really has been stolen then you'll
have to go to the Carabinieri, and keep your fingers
crossed that someone, somewhere in the station speaks
a little English.
And, as the saying goes, it never rains but it pours,
so check the weather
forecast before you go. You may have no
car, but at least you'll have an umbrella!
Isoradio
— More than 1,500 km of motorway tuned into 103.3
Mhz for all the latest traffic bulletins. (Italian
only) Route
66 — A handy route planner for driving around
Italy. (Italian only.) Car
hire — Drive where you want with Hertz,
the largest car hire firm in the world Traffic
regulations — If this is your first time
driving in Italy, take a look at this useful guide
to the highway code Road
signs — Make sure you know the road signs
before you drive off.
THE SURVIVOR'S 
There's
nothing worse, after months of looking up maps and
planning, than spending the first day of your well-deserved
vacation bumper-to-bumper with seemingly every other
holiday-maker in Italy. The answer,. drastic though
it may seem, is to avoid travelling on certain dates
in August. Most of Italy appears to get their annual
leave at the start of August and for most it's straight
from the office to the motorway.And the tailback
begins. . . 