The House of Representatives gave the green light to the bill on the highway code with 163 votes in favor and 107 against, and the text will now go to the Senate for consideration.
“Great satisfaction, we are determined to save lives.” This was stated by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport, Matteo Salvini, when commenting on the approval of the bill on road safety by the Chamber. “It is a beautiful day – Salvini continued – because precisely in these hours Parliament finally approves the new traffic code that provides for more controls, more road education, more rigor. The bill on road safety – the minister stressed – provides more strictness for those who make mistakes, therefore, withdrawal of the license for those who drive drunk, drugged, those who abandon animals, those who use mobile phones. “In addition – he continued -, from north to south, we are investing billions in new roads, such as the new Potenza-Melfi route: I am happy. These are beautiful days because it is absolutely necessary to reduce that number that exceeds three thousand deaths on the roads. Italian cities are a city that disappears every year. As Minister of Transport – Salvini concluded – I want to reach the end of my mandate with more modern, wider, safer roads and with fewer road deaths”.
“Good for alcohol, drugs, scooters and mobile phones, bad for speed, cycling and urban road protection. Mini license suspension needs to be improved, which will affect some drivers.” This is the comment of Asaps, the Association of Friends of the Traffic Police, after the approval in first reading in the House of the bill to modify the Highway Code, a provision that must now be examined by the Senate. “Asaps, who participated in the hearings in the Transport Commission, giving an important contribution to the drafting of some articles of the bill – underlines the president Giordano Biserni – appreciates the toughening of the penalties for driving while intoxicated, the introduction of alcohol blocking for repeat offenders, simplification of controls for driving under the influence of drugs, insurance, registration and insurance obligations for scooters, suspension of the license for the first offense for the use of mobile phones while driving and with smartphones, cause of thousands of traffic accidents, even serious ones. However, according to Biserni, due attention has not been paid to “the other important cause of accidents, speed”, because a rule has been provided that “dilutes” even one of the most effective tools against high speed, such as speed. From the issue linked to radars, with the lack of equality between homologation and homologation, in addition to the upcoming decree that will greatly reduce the possibility of installing fixed stations where it is really necessary for cyclists, safety could undoubtedly be increased. mesh in cities for entering limited traffic areas, with a single penalty in 24 hours, and for the management of rest areas, with the risk of increasing accidents in historic centers where traffic will increase.” Asaps also criticizes the mini-suspension of the driving license for a long series of infractions, “aimed only at those who have less than twenty points, 818,000 drivers out of 34 million users.”
“Today is a sad day for Italy: the approval of the new Highway Code in the Chamber is bad news because this reform represents a step backwards for the protection of human life.” Thus, Paolo Pozzi and Angela Bedoni, parents of Lucia, who was run over when she was 17 years old, on Christmas night 2004, in Melegnano, in the Milan region, comment on the approval by the Chamber of the proposed new Code traffic. .
Lucía’s parents were among the relatives of the road victims who had made a video appeal to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to listen to their requests to rewrite the code together. In recent days, physical and virtual squares have mobilized against the new code, with more than 20,000 emails sent to parliamentarians and more than 12,000 addressed directly to President Meloni, as well as 2,500 phone calls to group leaders in the Chamber.
The ‘Stop the massacre code’ mobilization, promoted and organized at the national level by FEVR – European Federation of Victims of Road Violence, AIFVS – Italian Association of Relatives and Victims of the APS Road and by the platform #CITTÀ30SUBITO – Legambiente, together With many other acronyms, the thing does not end there. More than 2,500 emails have already been sent to the Senate asking it to accept the proposals of the associations of families of road victims, which emphasize that “never before has a law literally affected people’s lives” like this one. time.
New highway code – SPECIAL