See this? Here's a guy speeding through Pompeii's city streets, about to splash these women with dirty water and mud. Maybe he's got something to prove, or just trying to impress. But he wouldn't have been able to do this as easily in the city of Rome!
In ancient Rome, wheeled vehicles (and later in the era, horseback riders) weren't allowed to go through city streets until two hours before sunset. They had to be off the streets by dawn. That's because draft animals and vehicles held up traffic, and the streets were already horribly congested as it was, from shoulder-to-shoulder pedestrian traffic, slaves carrying their masters or mistresses in litters, and so on.
Notice the openings in the raised stone pedestrian crossing, allowed wheeled vehicles to move through easily. Although maybe not at the speed he's going!
Image above from the 19th century and in the public domain.
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