Enforced speed limits persist today, yet disorder continues.
Rewrapped: Speed Cameras' Chaos Continues Amidst Decree Salvini
Video games, dust settled, we've got a new twist with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport (MIT) rules on speed cameras effective from June 12. Enter Decree Salvini, number 123, published in the Official Gazette on May 28 last year, and now ready to hit the streets. This decree, according to the Minister of Transport's intentions, is meant to put a stop to those wild fines. Let's dive into the details: location of electronic eyes established by prefects, signs at one kilometer away, and a ban on placing speed cameras on urban roads under 50 km/h or on extra-urban roads with artificially reduced limits. A noble attempt to bring order, but chaos still looms large.
You know the drill; it's not just the rules that create a fuss, but who enforces them and who bears the brunt. The MIT requested municipalities for a map of speed cameras, a census to understand how many and where. The result? 25% of administrations didn't play ball. No, they aren't all rogue, but in Italy, silence is often a signal of hidden mess. So while the decree aims to protect the holy grail of road safety, the negative perception of speed cameras as cash cows for mayors persists, and the burning question remains unanswered: how many of these cameras will be turned off due to non-compliance? The answer? No one knows, not even the ministry.
Ah, the original sin, the Supreme Court has pointed out before: the messy knot of homologation-approval. Tech talk, you might think, but it's causing quite the ruckus. Consumer associations are raging, judges are cancelling tickets, and drivers, amidst appeals and access to records, discover that without homologation, fines are worthless paper. The speed camera must be switched off, but to reach that point, you'll need to hike through a jungle of documents, stamps, appeals, and now even a false accusation complaint, as established by two recent orders from the Supreme Court.
To put it bluntly, we're caught in a trap ofnutty regulations, bureaucracy, and appeals. And the real emergency is being sidelined.Over 3000 deaths on Italian roads each year, 33 in the last weekend, 37 in the previous one. Speed still reigns supreme on the roads, but we're debating homologations, approvals, and minimum distances instead. "Stop everything, turn off the speed cameras until there's clarity," suggests Giordano Biserni, president of Asaps. And he's got a point. Because in Italy, unlike countries like Switzerland or Austria where speed limits are adhered to without a second thought, speed cameras seem more like a pretext for bickering than a lifesaver.
Decree Salvini tries to put a halt, but it's a question mark. Without a law that permanently clarifies the criteria for homologation, without a real map of speed cameras, without coordination between prefectures, municipalities, and law enforcement, the chaos will not subside.
The question of how many speed cameras will be turned off due to non-compliance remains unanswered, as many local administrations did not submit the required information. Furthermore, the controversy surrounding the homologation of speed cameras persists, casting doubts on the effectiveness of Decree Salvini in the sports of road safety.
