How to Make Restricted Traffic Areas Fairer.
Restricted Traffic Zone Sign in Italy
Italy has many cities in which ZTLs exist. These Zone Traffico Limitato areas are designed to prevent thousands of cars clogging up Italy’s city centres, and to help reduce pollution levels. But they are causing major headaches for tourists in Italy.
As is evidenced by my fast becoming infamous Speeding, and other traffic fines in Italy post and its accompanying 400 odd comments, many tourists are being caught out by such zones in Italy.
Receiving a fine often a year or so after a visit to Italy is leaving a bad taste in many people’s mouths, not to mention their wallets. Many are vowing not to return to Italy, which is a shame, and are telling others not to go to Italy either, which is even worse.
Here are a few ideas which could make these problematic restricted traffic zones in Italy a little fairer, and stop Italy from potentially losing millions in income from tourism too.
Clearer Signs
Italian road signs are confusing and cluttered at best, so something clearer would help.
Obviously having street signs in 30 or so different languages is not practical. Therefore, a better way of indicating the existence of and entry into such zones needs to be found.
How about a flashing light indicating that motorists are about to enter such a zone?
I’m not sure which colour would be most effective, but at least it would be easier to see the lights. Drivers would have time to react and find an alternative route. And lights would be much easier to recognize by an international audience than road signs written in Italian.
Give People a Way Out
Clearly marked alternative routes, taking motorists away from limited traffic areas, would also be useful.
Such routes would need signs in the same colour as the flashing lights indicating entry into a limited traffic area.
Put the Restricted Traffic Zones on GPS Systems
Go for it Garmin, Tom-Tom, and the rest. Plot Italy’s restricted traffic zones on your GPS navigators. I’ll sell them through Blog from Italy too, if you want me to.
Alternatively, Italy’s local authorities could be intelligent and pop GPS beacons systems on road signs marking the entrances and exits from these pesky restricted traffic zones. Drivers would then get some visual or audible warning via their GPS navigators which might just give them enough time to find a better route – which, of course, the clever GPS navigator unit could show.
The result would be fewer fines and drivers who would be happier to come back to Italy.
Parking Areas
Of course, not everyone wants to use a GPS navigator.
Where possible, just after or before flashing lights indicating the start of a limited traffic zone, clear signs showing official parking areas could be displayed. Again, this would stop traffic entering these zones, and give poor tourists more of a chance.
Happy Tourists Return
Yes, the above would require some thought and organisation, but as a result, useful tourist income would not be lost, and people would cease to speak ill of Italy. Additionally, the number of vehicles entering city centres would be reduced simply because drivers would understand that they are entering an area in which they cannot drive.
Then if someone does receive a fine, they would be more likely to think ‘Oh dear, I’ve been daft’, not, as many tend to think now ‘Oh damn, I’ve been hoodwinked/ ripped off’.
A few relatively simple measures would make everyone’s life a little easier and would demonstrate that Italy does give a damn about tourists.
Of course, if something is not done, then many will conclude that the primary purpose of the Italian ZTL is not to protect the environment, but purely to make money for Italian local authorities. This is not really ethical.
Italian tourism authorities could work with municipal bodies in order to ensure that traffic levels are reduced whilst at the same time keeping Italy’s wonderful cities as tourist friendly and accessible as possible.
Although it may be true that only very few of the millions who visit Italy every year are affected by ZTL fines, an old marketing principle is that one happy person will not tell anyone, whereas one unhappy person will tell 100 others.
Italy is Losing $2 Billion a Year
As at today, 18 November 2009, my original speeding fines post has been seen over 7000 20,000 times. Would Italy like to lose 700,000 2,000,000 paying tourists? I think not. Assume each tourist spends an average of $1000-00, then that’s $2 billion in income which Italy is losing every year. Quite a lot of cash, don’t you think?
And all this income from traffic fines will eventually start to dry up – probably at about the same time as many hotels in certain areas of Italy start closing down, followed by restaurants, shops and lots of other businesses serving the tourism sector in Italy.
Hi again Alex,
You have some excellent suggestions. I fully agree that the authorities should install conspicuous ZTL warning signs, proper traffic management so drivers don’t find themselves inadvertently shoved into the ZTL with no escape route, and clearly signed parking around the perimeter. Failing that, at the very least they could – really easily, quickly & cheaply – paint a thick line across the road at the ZTL border, with “STOP” on one side and “ZTL” in a red circle on the other. It’s been suggested that a line across the road would cause lots of rear end shunts as Italian drivers are not too keen on using brakes. But in my experience they like to create a big empty fuss with lots of futile shouting, gesturing & toot-tooting, but will avoid actual collision at all costs (just think of all the bureaucracy: form-filling, police reports, fees, bribes etc – not to mention higher insurance). Thus your choice is to risk causing a few tantrums by stopping & turning, or potentially throw away several hundred €/£/$ by continuing into the ZTL – a no-brainer for me!
A common theme in your “Speeding, and other traffic fines in Italy” thread is disgust at the underhand methods used by the traffic authorities to generate fines. I wholly support the objective of ZTLs to keep traffic out of historic city centres and help reduce damage & pollution. However, I don’t see how letting traffic into a ZTL through inadequate signage achieves this; in fact it worsens the problem, as more traffic gets in than otherwise would if properly signed. And it beats me how pollution is prevented by issuing a fine a year later! Significantly, the vast majority of posters regard ZTLs as nothing more than a revenue-raising scam, but I suspect the real reason is just inept organisation & management.
Italian city authorities could benefit from visiting the London Congestion Charge Zone to see how ZTLs should – and could – work. Drivers in London are in absolutely no doubt that they are about to enter the CCZ, and can easily divert away from it without incurring a charge or penalty. ZTL fine income could easily finance a fact finding mission to London, but that may be a bit too sensible for Italy.
Best regards,
PabloUK
Hi
I think any insane mind would not agree to the suggestions you gave years ago. But out of my own experience of how italian work, I would say they would be laughing out at your suggestions because they just want to grab money one way or the other without caring for the visitors. Instead they would make all efforts to multilply the fines.
Please don’t give italian any sensible suggestions because these are not meant for them.