Venice may have no cars but it has plenty of boats and their number has been on the increase over the past years. So much so that the usually tranquil canals of Venice now at times resemble the more chaotic traffic of Rome or Milan.
This summer has proved particularly bad for boat traffic in Venice with plenty of amateurs deciding to rent out boats and go for a spin around the canals, irritating the experienced gondoliers.
There has been an extraordinary high number of boat accidents, people ending up in the water and general confusion since many are not used to the complex canal traffic code where imaginary lines mark lanes that you are not supposed to cross.
Environmentalist, locals and city authorities are all in agreement that urgent action is needed to avoid that the Venetian laguna turns into a chaotic mess of poorly controlled boats. Traffic lights and traffic wardens will increase to help ease the problems while regulation is hashed out to more strictly define who is allowed to travel on the Venetian canals.
