The road code reform is entering its crucial phase with the sending of the proposal package from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport (Mit) to associations, entities, and operators to collect counter-comments and proposals (up to five) by September 13. From the following day, the countdown will begin until October 14, the date by which the government must present the draft to start the parliamentary process. The reform could therefore become operational between the end of the year and early 2027. The proposals – eight titles, 49 chapters, and 291 articles – were designed to meet the needs of users and, as emphasized by the head of the ministry Matteo Salvini, prioritizing traffic safety.
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Rules of conduct
Attention, caution, and responsibility are the key principles. Behaviors that violate prohibitions, limitations, or obligations related to traffic will be divided by areas to allow citizens and control bodies to more quickly identify the different categories of non-compliant behaviors and their related consequences. The provisions will thus be distinguished: valid for everyone on one side, and on the other dedicated to freight carriers, citizens, and vulnerable users.
Fairness and transparency
The severity of sanctions will be proportional to the seriousness of the conduct and its statistical impact on accidents. Both the main and accessory sanctions (including point deductions) will be contained in a table; from 82 main sanctions, it will be reduced to about 21 sanction bands. The automatic biennial adjustment for inflation is replaced by an optional update, activated only in case of a “significant Istat variation” (over 5%, suggests the Mit).
Effectiveness is “guaranteed” even for holders of foreign licenses, with accessory sanctions affecting the license applied directly by the verifying authority. The statutory limits may vary based on objective parameters such as altered psychophysical conditions, heavy vehicles, new drivers, vulnerable users, and others. The fine for motorcycles parked illegally, for example, may be halved compared to that for cars.
Similarly, progressive sanctions are promised: exceeding limits will have a first band within 20 km/h where for each kilometer exceeded, 5 euros must be paid; beyond 20 km/h, it will be 10 euros per km to pay. On highways and expressways, up to 15 euros for each km exceeding the limit, always excluding the 5% tolerance.
For tickets resulting from automatic and remote detections (approved speed cameras, cameras for Ztl gates, and traffic light control), the notification deadline to the vehicle owner is reduced to 30 days.
Vulnerable users to protect
For cyclists, motorcyclists, and pedestrians, safety rules are provided starting with mandatory helmets for minors on bicycles up to 14 years old and the introduction of the new category of propulsion cycles, differentiated from bicycles, including electric pedal-assisted ones: mandatory helmet along with plate/tag.
Our money
70% of the proceeds from sanctions will be reinvested in activities aimed at enhancing road safety standards, from signage to road maintenance, up to the installation of containment barriers. 30% will be allocated to the verifying bodies for verification and control activities. Today it is 50% and 50%.
License and qualifications
The path of adaptation to the new European regulation is anticipated, which provides for lowering the age limit to 17 years for obtaining the C1 license as well. The age for obtaining the Cqc, necessary for the profession of freight carrier, will thus be anticipated by one year. The possibility of driving vehicles requiring a C license even without possessing the Cqc is introduced, provided that the driver is enrolled in an initial qualification course, limited to one year.
Reinforcements arrive
Road police auxiliaries will be able to regulate intersections in the absence or replacement of traffic lights, or in situations of road congestion. In case of damage to property only, on roads other than highways and main extra-urban roads, they may be involved for signaling or recording the accident.
Accessible mobility
Greater traffic safety is promised for those who use mobility devices and aids, including electric ones, equipped with specific equipment, in order to break down architectural barriers that prevent their circulation on sidewalks; along with a crackdown on abuses of the Cude, the European unified disabled badge, with an obligation for municipalities to adopt it.
Highways and overtaking
The same criterion that already allows motorcyclists, in some cities, in preferential lanes, could be extended to emergency lanes on highways; but only in case of queues or slowdowns that put the motorcyclists themselves at risk. Also in case of slowdowns, parallel lane driving, currently prohibited (also because it generates overtaking on the right), will be allowed on highways and expressways with three lanes for each direction.
