Scooter Squashed
Here in Rome, scooters are an extremely popular way of getting around the city, and Italian drivers are generally considered to be a bit crazy.
This combination inevitably results in the occasional accident, and as the Google car approaches this corner a man can be seen getting out his car, although we can’t yet tell why.
As the Google car draws nearer we see that the inevitable has occurred – a scooter rider has been struck from behind and thrown from his bike! It seems that this is such a frequent occurrence however, that the passers-by barely care that a man has been run over.
Our Google driver is equally considerate, and drives around the fallen scooter driver like he was a misplaced traffic cone.
As the car drives on, we can rubberneck back around to see that there appears to be some disagreement taking place! Is another street fight about to kick off perhaps?
Oh dear, it seems that our unfortunate car driver may have a dent in the bumper of his Mercedes.
This is it, it’s all going to kick off now! Get ready for a pounding!
Suddenly however, things seem to have cooled off. Perhaps our scooter rider saw sense and decided it wasn’t worth it. He returns to his bike and tries to get it back up on its wheels. He doesn’t appear to be doing very well however!
Fortunately our car driver decides to put their disagreement aside, and just before the imagery changes to a different day, we can see the two men working together to get the toppled scooter back on the road.
Oh, it gives you a kind of fuzzy feeling huh?
Thanks to Edward Betts.
Update: Post corrected to say he was driving a scooter, rather than a moped, which would usually have pedals.
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How lovely to see them both helping in the end. Mopeds can be heavy, mine weights 130kgs and I seriously doubt my ability to pick it up on my own. My boyfriend took a tumble yesterday and likewise no-one stopped to help. He did however execute two somersaults and jumped back up to his feet at the end. That would have made an excellent street view story.
That’s not a moped, that’s a scooter. Mopeds have pedals. Some (under 50cc) scooters are licensed as mopeds, but that doesn’t make them actual mopeds.
@433: I always thought the two names were interchangeable! Well, you learn something new everyday. Thanks!
“Italian drivers are generally considered to be a bit crazy” – now *that* must be the understatement of the year. And it’s only January!
Note that not only the Street View car, but also all the following cars just drive around the scooter driver as if it’s perfectly normal that somebody is lying on the street.
“Note that not only the Street View car, but also all the following cars just drive around the scooter driver as if it’s perfectly normal that somebody is lying on the street.”
It’s not perfectly normal? Oh, I thought it was. These cheap ass scooter drivers should get real cars or learn to drive before they get out there and become “human traffic cones.”
and then there is the guy behind the google car taking a picture of the situation.
Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
Do people just get back on the scooter and leave? Isn’t there some kind of insurance issue to settle?
Is Google Ads seriously trying to sell scooter on this page?