Speedy Notification

For motorists and motorcyclists unfamiliar with Italian roads, speed limits, and speed cameras, devices like these may help ensure that an unexpected speeding fine does not drop through your letterbox at sometime after your trip round Italy.

I was as our local electronics store today in order to change a portable DVD that had given up the ghost, and while I was there, I noticed an interesting and, apparently legal, device for sale.

Having recently written about Italian speed cameras, and other speed trap systems, I thought it might help you, my readers, to know about these clever little fistfuls of GPS based technology. Read more

Traffic fines

Back in September 2006 I wrote a post about how to settle those pesky speeding/traffic fines you may end up with either during or after a stay in Italy. I did not imagine that my little post would end up being viewed more than 2500 times and commented on around 100 times, but it has, and this seems to indicate that there is something of a problem.

Well, guess what. Someone from the European Parliament has been having a look at my post. Now, I did know that one of the commenters was planning to write to an MEP, but I had not heard anything more. So now, possibly, something may start happening and that something may even be done to clarify the situation - at least in so far as convincing those who receive the fines that they are indeed genuine and not, I hope, part of some elaborate scam.

If anything develops, I’ll let you know.

Speeding in Italy

Those very nice people over at La Polizia dello Stato, the Italian State Police, publish a list of where and when they will be carrying out checks on the speed of vehicles. You can find the most up to date .pdf list here, in Italian. Just click on the region that interests you, and be aware that the list does not include fixed speed checks such as cameras. The rule, in Italy, is that if the motorway cops stop you, you will be fined, so watch out.

Some vocabulary to help you:

• autostrada - motorway
• strada statale - main trunk road, may be a dual carriageway
• strada provinciale - provincial road
• strada regionale - similar to a’statale’, a main regional route

Google maps should help you identify which roads are where and here is some info on speed limits and other driving related stuff.

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