The road safety decree has sparked protests from sustainable mobility associations, who are taking to the streets on 19 November, World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims.
Ahead of 19 November, the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, we must pause to reflect on the road safety problem that affects Italy deeply, where in 2022 alone road collision deaths numbered 3,159, while 223,475 people were injured. We are talking about what is the leading cause of death for young people under thirty, and the figures are rising. Indeed, last year deaths increased by nine per cent compared to 2021.
The issue is a hot one also because, in recent weeks, the road safety bill strongly championed by Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Matteo Salvini has been moving through the approval process, and the measures proposed are raising concern among those working on active mobility, who are fighting for a paradigm shift oriented towards more sustainable lifestyles and human-scale cities, in contrast to the overuse of private cars.
The announced reform of the highway code has been described as "massacre-enabling" by Fiab, the Italian Federation for the Environment and Cycling, in an open letter addressed to members of parliament and sent on the occasion of the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. The bill, Fiab notes, reflects a coercive and punitive approach that ignores the scientific approach to the issue, resulting in glaring errors and dangerous distortions. It discourages the use of both conventional and electrically assisted bicycles, fails to promote intermodality and, above all, does nothing to counter the excessive use of private cars in urban centres. The decree also restricts low-traffic zones and speed cameras — important tools for controlling speed, which, it should be remembered, is the leading cause of death in road collisions.
"In particular," the letter reads, "we must consider that fatalities have increased across all road user categories compared to 2021, with the exception of cyclists (-7 per cent), for whom mortality continues to fall (-33 per cent over the past ten years, -50 per cent over the past twenty), against a strong increase in cycling mobility and as a demonstration of the safety in numbers principle — that is, more people cycling, greater safety for everyone".
Furthermore, there is no reference to the introduction of 30km/h cities, which takes us ever further from the direction indicated by the scientific community and European directives that, let us not forget, have the objective of reducing the number of road fatalities to zero by 2050, with an intermediate milestone requiring a halving of deaths and serious injuries by 2030.
The letter concludes with an appeal to members of parliament to take their responsibility seriously: "We ask Parliament to fulfil its highest function and the one for which it was elected by citizens: to decide. Setting aside sectoral interests, partisan positions and electoral interests, and having as its sole objective the wellbeing of people. You are the public voice of everyone: make yourselves heard."
On Sunday 19 November, demonstrations will take place in several cities. In Rome, Milan, Naples, Trento, Cagliari, Lecce, Modena and Alessandria, hundreds of activists and associations will mobilise simultaneously to call for safer streets for people.
The most serious situation concerns Rome and the entire Lazio region. In the Province of Rome, there have already been 173 road traffic fatalities since the start of 2023. In Rome Capitale alone there were 11,798 accidents on urban roads, with 124 deaths (35 of whom were pedestrians) and 14,590 injuries. According to a recent study by Lumsa (July 2023), three road accidents occur every hour in Rome. Across the whole of Lazio, 64 pedestrians have already been struck and killed in 2023, along with 13 cyclists. The trend is frighteningly on the rise too: consolidated data for 2022 show +33 deaths compared to 2019 figures.
The demands accompanying Viva la strada are those listed below.
The demonstration is strongly felt in Milan thanks to the group of citizens who have joined the Città delle persone campaign, and is promoted across Italy by various associations, including those belonging to the Città30subito platform (Legambiente, Fiab, Asvis, Kyoto Club, Salvaiciclisti, Fondazione Michele Scarponi, Amodo, Clean Cities Campaign), Fridays for Future, Cittadini per l'Aria Onlus, genitori Ecoattivi, Modena30, Movimento diritti dei pedoni and Napoli pedala.