Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Instant Karma

I am a bit slow in replying as are on the road, with the Plus 4, first in Brittany and now in Cork, Blarney actually. Tomorrow we do the Ring of Kerry and then we move on to Galway, Dublin, Belfast, and then the week after Scotland and then slowly back home. So if you see an Italian reg Morgan it is probably us

As I mentioned in the original post I had pulled over to let the other car pass as he approached, and yes, the Carabiniere should have done the same thing.
In Italy it is both necessary to move to a clear lane on your right (would be left in the UK) and it is strictly illegal to pass on the right (undertake) except in very slow moving, stop start, traffic. The Carabiniere car was travelling at a fraction under the 130 kph speed limit but I was travelling at exactly 130 kph as verified by the GPS which is fairly accurate on a straight road).
It may not be all that obvious from the wide angle dash cam that the distances to the other vehicles that we were all gaining on are not as great as it appears. The distances are significantly elongated in the film and we were much closer to the unfolding scene than it appears. The Carabiniere probably thought he was going at the speed limit but may have had an over-reading speedometer. In any case he still should have pulled across as the other car (and us) approached slowly from behind.
I have never seen the point in weaving backwards and forwards across lines whilst moving faster than the rest of the traffic. The lane behind us was entirely clear so no one was wanting to go faster than us,
The Carabinieri did not pull the car over into the hard shoulder, emergency lane but in to a small lay by, still only for emergency use but well away from the flow of traffic.
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Just a small explanation, the Carabinieri are actually a branch of the armed services which is why they wear bullet proof vests and are armed with machine pistols (The Beretta PMX (or the earlier M12) 9x19mm Parabellum caliber submachine gun, to be precise) when they are mounting a road block, even if only to check documents. Thay do, however have police powers. We do have a normal national police force and local police as well, on top of that are the Guardia di Finanza, a sort of tax police, and other special purpose police bodies. It can get a bit complicated.