Having lived in Cambridge for nearly 19 years I have experienced a profound, negative, transformation of how people drive on the city streets.  Being Italian I am usually labelled as the person which doesn’t respect the rules, particularly when we talk about traffic rules and regulations.  While in Italy driving aggressively is a need and a necessity I kind of enjoyed the more civilised way of driving once moved here.  British people tend to have more respect for others and queue without too much fuss; this applies to driving etiquette such as giving way to people getting out of driveways or allowing them to turn right across the street when coming in opposite direction by signalling them and slowing down.  While in Italy the yellow light is something you usually cross without too many hesitations but Brits usually stop at it… at least they used to, until some time ago.

Over the last few years though I have experienced what I believe is due to a strong foreign influence on Cambridge streets and that has a negative influence on the overall traffic and street safety.  Less and less people stop when I am driving out of driveway, getting out of parking places and I witness on a daily basis people crossing traffic lights with yellow or even with red light soon after it has switched.  This lack of respect for the street rules is obviously endangering every person on that street and not just the person breaking the law.  What is usually infuriating for me is seeing professional drivers, like taxi and bus drivers, doing the same when, frankly, they should really know better.

I find curious how the law enforcement in this country has gone long way to enforce speed limits by installing thousands of speed cameras by yet no “red light” camera that catches people illegally crossing a traffic light.