Mayor of Venice plans canal safety crackdown after tourist dies
Mayor proposes safety measures, including drugs testing and mobile phone ban, after German tourist killed as waterbus crushes gondola
The death in Venice this month of a tourist in a gondola that was crushed by a waterbus has prompted the city's mayor to crack down on the chaotic congestion on the Grand Canal.
Joachim Vogel, 50, a German professor of criminal law, was taking a tour with his wife and three children on August 17 when the gondola they were in was crushed against a dock by a reversing waterbus.
I am amazed this crash didn't happen sooner, people do exactly what they like on the canals
In a city free of cars, the buildup of waterbuses, delivery boats and watertaxis due to the steady rise of tourist numbers means officials are now being forced to treat Venice's canals like any busy street, with plans for bans on mobile phone use while steering and stricter rules on turning and overtaking.
"I am amazed this crash didn't happen sooner, people do exactly what they like on the canals," said Aldo Rosso, a former city-appointed representative of Venice's gondoliers
Among the 26 congestion-busting measures announced this week by the mayor, Giorgio Orsoni, are drug and alcohol tests for boat handlers, amid reports that the gondolier involved in the fatal collision had traces of cocaine and marijuana in his blood.
The gondolier, Stefano Pizzaggia, is under investigation by magistrates along with the pilot of the waterbus and other pilots who were close to the incident.
"The gondola was allowed to be where it was when it was hit, so it does not look like the gondolier's behaviour had anything to do with it," said Nicola Falconi, the representative of the gondoliers, who have been working the canals of Venice in their handbuilt black vessels for 1,000 years.